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Nero

A secure storage and data analysis solution, designed specifically for use with High-Risk data

Nero GCP is a shared Big Data Computing Platform specifically designed for High Risk Data developed in collaboration with the School of Medicine (SOM) and Stanford Research Computing. Nero is PHI compliant and operated by Stanford Research Computing.

Features

Nero GCP is a cloud service.  An on-prem service, Carina, is currently in beta testing.

 

Option Comparison

use case CARINA ON-PREM NERO GCP
"Bursty" research computing requirements   Included
Continuous research computing requirements Included  
High-speed computing and storage for data that must remain on campus for compliance purposes Included Included
Data vendor requirement that the data stay on Stanford hardware Included  
Software license requirement that it run on Stanford University-owned hardware only Included  
Requirement for large quantities of hardware resources for a short period of time   Included
Contractual requirements that the data must be kept in a particular non-USA country   Included
Requirement for cloud-specific software tools, such as GCP's BigQuery   Included

Designed for

  • Nero is available for use by Principal Investigators (PIs) from Stanford University, Stanford Hospital and Clinic (SHC), Stanford Children’s Hospital (SCH) and SLAC. A fully-sponsored SUNet ID is required. 
  • Nero does NOT support real-time clinical decision-making.

Requirements

  • Principal Investigators are responsible for procuring their data and ensuring all security and compliance requirements for its use are completed. 
  • Completion and approval from the IRB for any project that involves Human Subjects.
  • A DRA is required for users not accessing STARR or PHS data. As a reminder, Population Health Science (PHS) users are asked to submit all data access requirements via the PHS Data Portal.

Data security

Nero is authorized for use with High Risk Data and PHI data and in compliance with the Minimum Security Standards (MinSec). A Data Risk Assessment and any other other regulatory requirements must be completed prior to accessing Nero. By submitting a request to use Nero, you agree to adhere to the MinSec Standards MinSec for Infrastructure as a Service, and Administrative Guide 6.3.1 for Information Security.

Rates

Nero GCP incurs Google-related costs for storage and compute, at rates negotiated by Stanford University for cloud computing.

Get started

Once your Nero service is ready, you will receive an email notification. Login with SUNet ID is required. 

Get help

Please contact SRCC at srcc-support@stanford.edu to get help with Nero.

See also

Learn more about Nero at https://nero-docs.stanford.edu/

Last modified October 19, 2023