WP5: Data Interaction and Services

The purpose of WP5 is to deliver the integration of external computational tools and services that act on data held within Scratchpad instances. To this end we have designed and built OBOE, the Oxford Batch Operations Engine. OBOE's role is to provide the background computing power for services and to make them available via both a machine API and OBOE's own web interface. Services are computer programs that might normally be run as self-contained command-line applications. With OBOE these programs are deployed as cloud computing services making the software requirements and mechanisms entirely transparent to the user. Users are freed from the overheads of computing and can concentrate exclusively on the outputs and results.

WP5 provides the backbone for new, high quality functionally to the ViBRANT user community that will sustain a culture of engagement with ViBRANT products.

Below is a snapshot of the OBOE web site, the human front-end for users that we have developed as part of WP5. All the services available here can also be accessed via the machine API. Scratchpads and other portals use the API to expose OBOE services.

OBOE Usage Statistics and Projections