Bioinformatics

Drag and drop your way to sophisticated cluster-enabled data manipulation, backed by the power and scalability of the Apple Workgroup Cluster. With iNquiry from the BioTeam, you can deploy more than 150 commonly-used binaries — like mpiBLAST, EMBOSS, and HMMER — without needing to assemble disparate software components manually. And a web services interface makes it the easiest bioinformatics cluster to use, even for novices.

Instant Gratification

After running the intuitive installer, your iNquiry-based cluster is ready for use — with almost no command-line configuration. iNquiry enables network services, installs current public sequence databases, and provides a web services interface to the entire software library.

Always Up to Date

It’s no picnic keeping more than 150 open source applications current with the latest available versions, not to mention maintaining a library of up-to-date genetic databases. iNquiry’s Software Update Service, included with the Apple Workgroup Cluster for one year, enables you to update applications with the latest Mac OS X binaries — automatically — much like the Software Update facility in Mac OS X. In addition, the optional iNquiry Data Update Service provides automatic acquisition and reindexing of any publicly available sequence database. So you’ll always have the latest data and applications — without the tedium of manual updates.

Powerful Research Workflows

Even if you’re not a computational wizard, you can still incorporate cluster computing into your research. Projects like Taverna and commercial applications like InforSense KDE integrate cluster-enabled steps into desktop workflows — there’s no need to build complex PERL or Python scripts.

iNquiry uses an intuitive web services interface to publish its library of software applications, enabling a slew of third-party applications to take direct advantage of the cluster’s functionality. Users with no cluster experience can access these powerful tools from a web browser or straight from the desktop.

Support from the BioTeam

When purchased through Apple, iNquiry includes one year of Bronze-level support, with unlimited support emails on any iNquiry topic and all major software updates. Expand your support to Gold and you’ll get iNquiry customization, script-writing support, and additional applications — all through a single BioTeam contact. For the highest level of support, upgrade to Platinum and you’ll benefit from telephone support and direct interaction with the BioTeam on virtually any problem you encounter and any customization you require.