Globus celebrates its ten-year anniversary

This year ushers in the tenth year for Globus, a secure data and research sharing platform. 

Originally known as “Globus Online,” the company has enabled the safe transfer and sharing of large files of data and research amongst users. Today, over 150,000 users from 80 different countries utilize Globus’ services. Over 100 billion files containing one exabyte of data have been shared by universities, government facilities, and national laboratories alike during their research processes.  

In its tenure, Globus has provided resources to groundbreaking discoveries and innovations, most notably their work with the Large Hadron Collider in Europe and their discovery of the Higgs boson particle. Colloquially known as the “God particle,” discovery of the Higgs boson was critical to the scientific community’s current understanding of the laws of nature. Another notable project was Globus’ work with IceCube, the world’s largest facilities for detecting neutrinos. With Globus, IceCube has been able to transmit and archive data from WI, CA, and Berlin. The work has enabled scientists to trace and date neutrinos back over 3.7 billion years. 

Globus’ services have also extended beyond physics practices into other disciplines. Research facilities across the world have used Globus’ database as an avenue to explore treatments and therapies for COVID-19.  

The contributions and subsequent accomplishments done with Globus has not gone unnoticed- in 2012, Globus was named as one of the top technologies of the year for the R&D 100 Award. In 2018 alongside IceCube, Globus also was awarded the HPCWire’s Editor’s choice award. 

In light of the recent accolades, Globus co-founder Dr. Ian Foster lauded the company’s work to provide secure resources for its users. He said, “As I look back at all the scientific achievements that Globus has helped to enable, I am tremendously proud of both the amazing efforts of the Globus team and the support we receive from the thousands of institutions that trust us to manage their most valuable data assets.”