IT Innovation Contest

A team-based contest for creative IT solutions

UCSFbox - An in-house version of Dropbox built specifically for the UCSF Community

Submitted by Marlon Lee on July 26, 2012 - 10:49am Last revised by Web Producer on August 25, 2014 - 10:07am.
Proposal Status: 
Review Complete

UCSFbox brings private cloud storage capabilities to UCSF


UCSFbox is a product broken into 2 parts

  • A client package that allows authentication to data
  • The actual cloud storage infrastructure

This service will address

  • Issues of private data being used on public cloud storage systems
  • Allow users more control over their data
  • Provide a modern private platform to access data from any location
  • Create methods of easy data collaboration between users from all departments

Current team members

Marlon Lee

Department of Medicine IT Services


James Cundiff

Department of Pediatrics IT Support


Raymond Tam

Department of Surgery Information Services


Pamela Rothenberg (non technical role)

Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology


Comments

Erik Wieland - July 26, 2012 - 3:00pm
Any ideas yet about what platform you'll use, and what platforms you'll support? The main reasons DropBox works so well for so many are the synchronization features and the ubiquity of platform support. Options/comparisons to explore: Xythos (used by UCI and now owned by Blackboard), Box.net's Internet2 service (tested by UCB), Tonido (private cloud portal for mobile platforms)

Marlon Lee - August 3, 2012 - 6:35pm
We are looking at using OpenStack Swift. UC San Diego recently built a storage cloud with this and had good results. Tonido looks like it would be a perfect tool for the mobile side.

Enrique Terrazas - July 26, 2012 - 3:24pm
A project that provides a need for UCSF. However, it would need HIPAA compliant security, and seamless access across many devices. Are there existing frameworks that could/would be utilized?

Isaac Sato - July 27, 2012 - 8:10am
This is a needed service here at UCSF. However some additional issues to address would be: cost to users, easy collaboration with users outside the University, and the service/product needs to be seamless to users across many desktop and mobile platforms.

Marlon Lee - August 3, 2012 - 6:42pm
These are all really good concerns. I hope a few of them can be solved with a new security policy for cloud storage usage.

Commenting is closed.