xenonsystemet

xenonsystemet is a distributed data‑management platform developed by the Norwegian Institute of Technology in the early 2020s. It was originally created to support large‑scale scientific experiments in astrophysics and particle physics, where researchers needed a reliable way to store, process, and share terabytes of data across multiple sites. The system’s name derives from the noble gas xenon, chosen to evoke the idea of a silent yet powerful medium that carries information efficiently.

The core architecture of xenonsystemet combines a cluster of commodity servers with a custom file‑system layer that implements erasure coding for fault tolerance. It uses a message‑passing interface based on ZeroMQ for inter‑node communication, and a lightweight, in‑memory key/value store written in Rust for metadata handling. Security is enforced through mutual TLS authentication and role‑based access control. The platform supports common scientific data formats such as FITS and HDF5, and it integrates with popular workflow engines like Pegasus and Nextflow.

Operationally, xenonsystemet is deployed in a hybrid cloud environment. Local nodes at each research institute maintain their own replica sets, while the central university cluster provides an aggregation point for cross‑disciplinary projects. The system’s scheduler automatically balances load and initiates data replication once storage thresholds are reached, ensuring high availability and durability.

Since its public release in 2021, xenonsystemet has been adopted by several European laboratories for large‑volume data analysis. Its open‑source nature encourages community contributions, and the project maintains regular documentation updates through its GitHub repository. The platform exemplifies modern approaches to scalable, secure data management in research settings.