Benefits of Cloud Computing
Computational Resources
Advances in flow cytometry now enable researchers and clinicians to simultaneously measure a large number of cellular parameters. Along with that informational power comes a tremendous increase in the scale of data and a concomitant increase in demand for computational solutions. Uploading your raw data to the cloud and analyzing this data in the cloud enables you to take advantage of computing power that may not be accessible in your own lab or department. Even smaller datasets can benefit from analysis in the cloud, which makes your results searchable and available from anywhere. When you upload and analyze your files on Cytobank, you can avoid tying up local computational resources (i.e. computers in your lab or flow facility). We’ve made a number of recent updates to boost performance on Cytobank. Additionally, any new functionality we add to Cytobank (e.g. new plot types or statistics) is instantly available to all users.
Easy Software Upgrades
As a cloud-based application, Cytobank can be updated and improved continuously without forcing users to update, reinstall or reconfigure any software on their computers. When you first log in to Cytobank after a new version of the platform has been released, you will see a popup box appear which outlines some of the new features in the latest version. Additionally, any new functionality we add to Cytobank is instantly available to all users.
Scalable Data Management
Use the storage capacity of the cloud to securely maintain large annotated data sets, including the important details you need to share, such as gates or scale settings, experimental conditions and history. With data and analyses in the cloud, there is no longer a time or space limitation to what you can share with colleagues. All they need to do is access the cloud and look for the details they need, whether it is the raw data, the final images, or something in between. Another advantage to storing copies of your data on the Cytobank platform is that our database is regularly backed up. If your computer suddenly fails, FCS files and analyses are easily accessible in your Cytobank account and can be recovered.
