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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1897:17–29. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8935-5_3

Table 1.

Computing requirements in establishing a biobank. Each category includes minimum and optimal considerations as well as common functionalities. See Table 2 for BIMS requirements

Biobank Computing Requirement Checklist Considerations
Workstation Desktop computer Laptop computer
Operating System Windows 10, Apple OS X Must be compatible with biobanking software
RAM Minimum: 8 GB Better: 16 GB
Hard Drive Space Minimum: 500 GB Better: 1 – 2 TB
Hard Drive Speed Minimum:
7200 RPM		 Better:
10,000 – 15,000 RPM
Internet Speed Minimum: 10 Mbps Better: 100–200 Mbps
External Drive Space Minimum: 500 GB Better: 1–2 TB
Cloud Database Considerations Security, Encryption Audited by third-party
Redundancy Stable customer base/finances
Office Software Functions Spreadsheets E-mail & Note log
Word processors Presentations
Security Software Functions Firewall Anti-malware/anti-virus
Scheduled scans Protection against phishing