A reference architecture for scientific virtual laboratories

Recent advances in the IT can be applied to properly support certain comple x requirements in the scientific and engineering domains. In experimental s ciences, for instance, researchers should be assisted with conducting their complex scientific experimentation and supporting their collaboration with other scientists. The main requirements identified in such domains include the management of large data sets, distributed collaboration support, and high-performance issues, among others. The virtual laboratory project initi ated at the University of Amsterdam aims at the development of a hardware a nd software reference architecture, and an open, flexible, and configurable laboratory framework to enable scientists and engineers with working on th eir experimentation problems, while making optimum use of modern informatio n technology approaches. This paper describes the current stage of design o f a reference architecture for this scientific virtual laboratory, and focu ses further on the cooperative information management component of this arc hitecture, and exemplifying its application to experimentation domain of bi ology. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.