Research Storage
at Great Plains Scale

Providing distributed, resilient storage infrastructure for data-intensive research, AI/ML workflows, scientific simulations, and collaborative discovery across the Great Plains region.

Read the Overview
See the Roadmap

Capacity as designed. Hardware is in procurement now. See the roadmap

14 PB
Distributed Object Storage
384 TB
High-Speed SSD Tier
3 Sites
Regional Resilience
2027
Open Access Begins

GP-STOR connects researchers and institutions across Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota to accelerate discovery through reliable, scalable, and accessible data infrastructure.

One storage service across three campuses

A tier for the data you keep and a tier for the data you are working on right now, reachable from the compute you already use.

Tiered, Distributed Storage

14 PB of redundant Ceph object storage for data at rest, plus 384 TB of solid-state storage for AI/ML streaming, simulation output, and instrument data.

Three-Site Resilience

Capacity is split across the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska, and the University of South Dakota, so one site going offline does not take your data with it.

Access From Existing Workflows

Mounts for the OSG and the National Research Platform, Globus transfers, OSDF origins, and a web UI, so jobs and transfers run through the tools already in use.

Training and Support

Virtual office hours, video walkthroughs, and step-by-step guides, so a group new to this kind of storage is not left to work it out alone.

Built and operated by four partners

Three campuses hold the distributed storage. The Great Plains Network connects them to the wider region.

Supported by National Science Foundation award OAC-2502799.

Latest Events

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Workshops, trainings, and community events across the region.

Getting Data In and Out

Four ways onto the same storage, each matching how research data already moves

Reachable From
the Tools You Already Run

OSG and NRP Mounts

Mount GP-STOR directly in high-throughput computing jobs on the Open Science Grid and the National Research Platform.

OSDF Origin Nodes

Publish datasets to the Open Science Data Federation and have them served out to jobs wherever those jobs land.

Globus Transfers

Managed, high-performance transfers for moving large collections between GP-STOR, campus storage, and collaborators elsewhere.

Nextcloud Web UI

Browse, upload, and share through a web interface, for the work that does not belong on a command line.

How each access method works
OSG and NRP mounts, Globus transfers, and the Nextcloud web interface all reach the same three-site GP-STOR cluster, which serves data back out through OSDF origin nodes to caches near running jobs. OSG / NRP COMPUTE MOUNTS GLOBUS BULK TRANSFERS NEXTCLOUD WEB INTERFACE OSDF ORIGIN NODES GP-STOR 3 SITES · 14 PB

Research Use Cases

The workloads the tiered design was built around

From Instrument and Simulation
Through to Analysis

AI and Machine Learning

The solid-state tier is built for streaming data straight into AI/ML algorithms, rather than staging it somewhere else first.

Scientific Simulations

Land simulation output on the object tier as it is produced, then distribute the curated results with Globus.

Instrument Data Pipelines

Stream instrument data to the high-speed tier for preprocessing and analysis, then keep it alongside everything else.

Classroom and Coursework

Give students hands-on time with the same cyberinfrastructure their field runs on, in coursework and in research projects.

Who can use GP-STOR, and what it costs
A storm front moving over a wheat field on the Great Plains

Regional Impact

Cyberinfrastructure for a region where it has been hard to build

Built for the Region,
Reproducible Nationwide

Rural Cyberinfrastructure

Deploying advanced infrastructure in rural regions, where awareness and literacy of high-throughput computing are still emerging.

Workforce Development

Building an engineering and facilitation workforce able to design and run an interstate research platform.

Under-Resourced Institutions

Focused on the campuses that have had the least access to infrastructure like this, including PUIs and tribal colleges.

Regional Economy

Supporting the industrial sectors the region depends on, including agriculture and advanced materials.

The team and partner institutions
Map of the central United States. South Dakota, Nebraska, and Missouri, the three campuses holding GP-STOR storage, are marked in amber; Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are shown in neutral as part of the wider region served.

GP-STOR Roadmap

Where the project stands today, and what comes between here and open access.

Q3 2026: Infrastructure acquisition

Finalize specifications and procure infrastructure for GP‑STOR.

Q4 2026: Receive hardware

Delivery and rack/cabinet intake at sites; begin inventory and staging.

Q4 2026-Q1 2027: Deploy and configure

Install CEPH clusters across sites, configure replication, pools, and monitoring.

Q1 2027: Deploy storage interfaces

Enable access methods such as a web interface and mounting on National Research Platform.

Q2 2027: Beta users

Onboard early adopters for real-world testing and performance tuning.

Q3 2027: Open access & trainings

Public access opens, training sessions held, and operational support transitions to steady‑state.

Q4 2027: Convene user group

Bring together early stakeholders and beta participants to solicit feedback on service design and policies.

Planning work that will need this?

GP-STOR is in the acquisition and deployment phase, with open access scheduled for 2027. Talk to your campus CI lead now so your storage needs are known before beta onboarding begins.

Find Your Campus Lead
How to Get in Touch