Figure 1.

A schematic of the layered architecture approach used in BIRN. The lowest infrastructure level of the architecture consists of the core infrastructure, that is, networks and associated protocols for generating, accessing, storing, and moving data. Above this layer are the Globus Toolkit¹ generic data management services that are format and content agnostic. The BIRN services layer contains common standard services that are more specialized for biomedicine, but not for any specific biomedical domain. Finally, the top layer consists of application-specific services and tools that address the specific requirements of a particular research activity or specialized research domain. These are often supplied by the end users. One advantage of the layered approach is that it allows BIRN capabilities to be incorporated into the existing technology of the end user.