Big Data Sandbox Options for a Sustainable Future

Options

Options for the future of the sandbox have been considered on two main dimensions:

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  Firstly, whether a single sandbox, as currently used, is adequate to cover future use cases, or whether a network of sandboxes would be more appropriate
  
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  Secondly, whether the sandbox(es) should support statistical production uses, which is not the case currently
  

This section describes these two dimensions, before evaluating the four possible combinations, according to the considerations described earlier.

Dimension 1: Network

As the sandbox grows, and the number of participants grows, a single sandbox may be inadequate to serve all needs. Instead, a network of sandboxes could be developed so that different sandboxes could serve different participant groups. For example, sandboxes could be region-specific, which may simplify data protection concerns relating to cross-border data transfer and storage. Sandboxes could be created in cooperation with high-performance computing centers or other infrastructure providers available in the relevant region or could be supported directly on the infrastructure of statistical organisations. Under this approach, the multiple sandboxes could be:

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