A Framework for Discussing e-Research Infrastructure Sustainability

Introduction Reusable infrastructure, systems and components created by one or more people and intended to be used by others, have become essential for many types of research over the last century, from microscopes to telescopes, and from sequencers to colliders. Over the past few decades, most of the interfaces to research infrastructure, and in many cases, the infrastructure itself, has become digital. In this paper we discuss e-Research infrastructure, also called cyberinfrastructure, which has been defined by Craig Stewart as consisting of “... computing systems, data storage systems, advanced instruments and data repositories, visualization environments, and people, all linked together by software and high performance networks to improve research productivity and enable breakthroughs not otherwise possible.” [1] While research infrastructure as a whole is important, it is useful to consider infrastructure elements as well, as the elements comprise the overall infrastructure. Each element can be discussed in different contexts: