In the recent Nature issue (Nature 455, 28-29 (4 September 2008) | doi:10.1038/455028a; Published online 3 September 2008) a very interesting special section on "big data" is presented: (http://www.nature.com/news/specials/bigdata/index.html).
This especially caught my attention because of project I'm working on, and we are doing exactly what is discussed in the following article regarding generation of data and providing a sophisticated archive with lots of functionality as a part of the project. Questions arise as to curation, access, and desired functions. It is expected that this is becoming commonplace as a way to work will continue to evolve in the scientific community, as will the need for standards: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/full/455028a.html

It is an excellent opportunity for scientific institutions to take the lead.

Excerpts:
"Community standards for data description and exchange are crucial. These facilitate data reuse by making it easier to import, export, compare, combine and understand data. Standards also eliminate the need for each data creator to develop unique descriptive practices. They open the door to development of disciplinary repositories for specific classes of data and specialized software management tools."
"The time is right for scientists to take stock of the institutionalized data services that are available or under development, to understand how these institutions are governed and financed, and to make choices about the best strategies for their disciplines. Can a discipline-oriented solution work? If a university-based system seems more practical, what can be done to expedite the move to university consortia strategies? As the volume of data, and the need to manage it grows, disciplinary consensus leadership will be very powerful factors in addressing the challenges ahead."