Storage infrastructure and electricity grid struggling under Genomics' big data
Population-scale genomics is taking its toll on storage infrastructure and even the electricity grid, with Oxford University's Big Data Institute having to relocate elsewhere as “there’s not enough electricity in Oxford.”, according to Robert Esnouf, Head of the Research Computing Core at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. Genomics is looking increasingly likely to become the largest generator of big data, with each gene sequencing unit producing over 500GB of data on a daily basis. The German Cancer Center is said to generate 12TB every day, a milestone that takes it past Twitter - which apparently generates a mere 11TB. As previously reported, the scale of data is such that some genomics outfits are entering deals with large scale cloud computing and storage providers, including BGI, which announced a project with compatriots AliBaba to further genomics research. Cloud providers such as Google and Amazon have begun offering cloud products tailored to the needs of genomics and bioinformatics.  

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