  The growing amount of data and advances in data science have created a need
for a new kind of cloud platform that provides users with flexibility, strong
security, and the ability to couple with supercomputers and edge devices
through high-performance networks. We have built such a nation-wide cloud
platform, called "mdx" to meet this need. The mdx platform's virtualization
service, jointly operated by 9 national universities and 2 national research
institutes in Japan, launched in 2021, and more features are in development.
Currently mdx is used by researchers in a wide variety of domains, including
materials informatics, geo-spatial information science, life science,
astronomical science, economics, social science, and computer science. This
paper provides an the overview of the mdx platform, details the motivation for
its development, reports its current status, and outlines its future plans.
