gCube system is a Software Platform for the implementation and servicing of Virtual Research Environments (VRE) based on the Service Oriented Paradigm and a number of specifications and technologies that relate to the technological and functional areas addressed by its core services.

gCube system is Open Source Software and the base technologies that underly its development are

• Java
• WS Core (WSRF Implementation of Globus Toolkit 4 )
• gLite EGEE's grid enabling middleware
• GridSphere Portal Framework for the provision of end-user and administrative interfaces

gCube system not only provides a complete set of services to support the instantiation of VREs, but also provides a set of sub-frameworks for the adaptation and expansion of its services and capabilities, so that the provided features can match the requirements of a particular scientific application domain.

By operating the gCube software, the D4Science e-Infrastructure offers to its user communities coordinated and secure sharing of computing and storage resources, as well as software tools, services and data repositories. It allows specific scientific research groups inside the user communities cost-effective, scalable and highly-configurable set up of multi-disciplinary Virtual Research Environments (VREs) for the generation and dissemination of scientific and technical knowledge.

The D4Science e-Infrastructure interfaces and uses the computational and storage capabilities offered by the grid operated by the EGEE project (www.eu-egee.org). In this way, it delivers a data infrastructure for the generation, curation, representation, and management of large data sets.