SURE is operated by the Sax Institute on a cost-recovery basis. The population Health Research Network (PHRN) contributes a significant proportion of funding to SURE, with the remaining costs of operating the system being funded through user access fees.
The PHRN is an initiative of Australian government being conducted as part of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
Fees for the use of SURE are charged for the establishment and maintenance of Workspaces. Each user also pays a fee for a virtual machine based on the computing resources assigned to that user. Users can opt to have power virtual machines available for as little as one month to help with large datasets or complex analysis.
The fees below relate to standard setup requirements and are effective 1 October 2021. We are usually able to accommodate special requests in the setup of a Workspace to meet specific requirements but additional fees may apply. Fees are exclusive of GST.
Workspace fees
| Effective 1 October 2021 (all fees are exclusive of GST) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Standard Workspace | Setup Fee | No initial setup fee |
| Maintenance Fee | $2,674 p.a. | |
| Workspace Suspension Fee NB: A Workspace Suspension is where data is maintained on SURE servers, but all user access and associated virtual machines are deactivated. This can be pro-rated for minimum period of 3 months | $1,050 p.a. | |
| Project Model Workspace * | Setup Fee (per Folder) NB: When establishing a Project Model Workspace, two standard folders are setup free of charge to help administer the Workspace: Data Manager and Common. | $855 |
| Administration and Operations Fee (per Folder) | $1,338 p.a. | |
| Suspension Fee (per Folder) NB: PaaS projects may have a 3-month free folder suspension period and this pro-rated annual fee applies for any time beyond this. | $210 p.a. | |
| Archiving Fee (up to 10 years) | $500 | |
| *The data cannot be copied, downloaded or transmitted by email or other means. Researchers can take their analyses from SURE but not the original data. All inputs and outputs are vetted through a unique “curated gateway” for compliance and the SURE system records and archives all transactions for future reference. | ||
Virtual machine fees
| Virtual machine type | Computing resources provided | Minimum access period | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervisor Typically, a senior researcher, possibly the chief investigator of a study, who does not need to do hands-on data analysis but requires access to the analysis results within SURE. | Resources allocated to one virtual machine: 4GB RAM One CPU core Access to shared study file server Access to SAS, Stata, SPSS, Stat/Transfer. | 1 year | $1,338 p.a. |
| Standard Typically for small-to-medium sized data sets. A workstation with sufficient resources to provide excellent performance for most data analysts using data sets up to approximately 10GB in size. | Resources allocated to one virtual machine: 8GB RAM Two CPU cores 250GB of fast "scratch" disc space (for SAS work files and other working or temporary files, not backed up) Access to shared study fileserver Access to SAS, Stata, SPSS, R, Stat/Transfer. | 1 year | $2,674 p.a. |
| Standard Free software only | As Standard Virtual Machine with: Access to free software only “R” and R/Studio supplied as Standard. | 1 year | $2,300 p.a. |
| Power For researchers analysing large or very large data sets, typically greater than 10GB in size, or with multiple smaller linked data sets. | Resources allocated to one virtual machine: 16GB RAM Two CPU cores 500GB of fast "scratch" disc space (for SAS work files and other working or temporary files, not backed up) Access to shared study file server Access to SAS, Stata, SPSS, Stat/Transfer. | 1 month | $292 monthly ($3,500 p.a.) |
| Power Free software only | As Power Virtual Machine with: Access to free software only “R” and R/Studio supplied as Standard. | 1 month | $250 monthly ($3,000 p.a.) |
| Power X For researchers analysing large or very large data sets, typically greater than 10GB in size, or with multiple smaller linked data sets. | 2 x Power VM 32GB RAM 4 Cores 500GB “scratch” storage Access to SAS, Stata, SPSS, Stat/Transfer. | 1 month | $412 monthly ($4,940 p.a.) |
| 4 x Power VM • 64GB RAM • 8 cores • 500GB “scratch” storage • Access to SAS, Stata, SPSS, Stat/Transfer. | 1 month | $652 monthly ($7,820 p.a.) |
|
| 8 x Power VM • 128GB RAM • 16 Cores • 500GB “scratch” storage • Access to SAS, Stata, SPSS, Stat/Transfer. | 1 month | $1,132 monthly ($13,580 p.a.) |
|
| Virtual Machine Sharing For researchers sharing the same virtual machine (this can only be one user at a time). | Per additional user | NA | $669 |
| User Changes When a research study changes team members there is a change-over fee. | Add user new to SURE to replace a project team member or to share a virtual machine. | NA | $307 |
| Add user who has previously used SURE | NA | $0 |
