EMC Provides Storage Infrastructure to North Carolina State University Libraries

EMC Corporation announced that it is
providing storage and computing infrastructure to North Carolina State University Libraries
as a founding Platinum member of the university’s Powered By program.

The James B. Hunt Jr. Library, which opened on NC State
University’s Centennial Campus in early 2013, sets a new benchmark for
technologically sophisticated learning spaces. EMC is supporting the Hunt
Library’s goal of offering the University and its partners the computing
infrastructure needed to enable new ways to investigate data, large-scale
visualization and graphic-intensive applications, immersive simulation
environments, and interactive, cloud-based computing.

EMC is providing storage technologies, including its Isilon scale-out NAS
solutions, to power Hunt Library’s private cloud, virtual desktop, and virtual
server infrastructure. This project is part of the company’s longstanding ‘EMC
Information Heritage Initiative,’ which works to protect and preserve the
world’s information for future generations and make it globally accessible in
digital form for research and education purposes. Past EMC Information Heritage
Initiative-sponsored endeavors include: supporting the Vatican Apostolic
Library (Rome, Italy) in digitizing its catalog of historic manuscripts and
incunabula; supporting the JFK Library (Boston, USA) in the process of
digitizing and archiving its entire collection; and supporting the Herzogin
Anna Amalia Library (Weimar, Germany), home to a collection of Faust
first editions.

Early projects that have already
capitalized
on the library’s computing power include:

• A powerfully realistic simulator to train ROTC midshipmen to operate the bridge
  of modern naval vessels;
• 3-D recreation of St. Paul’s Cross during John Donne’s tenure at the cathedral
  to demonstrate the impact of 17th-century sermons as they were actually
  delivered;
• Student-created video games inspired by the University’s  Digital Games Research Center;
• Virtual crime scene simulations; and
• Visualizations that explore the mobility of materials through cell walls.

The Hunt Library serves both as NC State’s second main library and as the
intellectual and social heart of the university’s Centennial Campus. Named the
nation’s top research park in 2007, Centennial Campus is a nexus of
collaboration where students and faculty work with more than sixty corporate
and governmental partners to craft the innovations that will shape tomorrow.
The Hunt Library contains powerful sets of visualization
technologies at a US public university. In addition, the Hunt Library’s
computing and storage power is a key resource for the NCSU Libraries’
leadership role in numerous multi-institutional projects
to curate and make accessible large sets of data.

Susan K. Nutter, vice provost and director, NCSU Libraries, said: "One of our core goals for the Hunt Library
has been to provide a new type of technologically immersive space where
collaboration and creativity would be encouraged to flourish. We could not be
more proud to have EMC as a partner in just that sort of collaboration, not
only for the equipment they provided but especially for the expert guidance
that helped bring our vision to life. It has been an inspired partnership."

Christopher E. Goode, VP and chief public affairs officer, said: "EMC is proud to continue to expand our
partnership with NC State. The intersection of information and collaboration is
where innovation is born. By creating an environment that is both nurturing and
technologically on the cutting edge, the new Hunt Library will provide the
knowledge and tools that will enable NC State and its innovation community to
lead and to grow exponentially for generations to come."