Research data is becoming an important part of science. Data sets generated from scientific experiments are increasing considerably in size, in an attempt to discover something new. New technologies have made it possible to record and capture large data sets for later use. e-Science has allowed this to happen by bringing together networking and computing into research. A large part of scientific research is distribution of data via a network. Today the Internet is responsible for the distribution of this data. Once the data is captured it is housed usually in some sort of data centre where the data is managed and access is controlled. Data centres play an important role in scientific discovery. Data is a very valuable but complex resource to manage. The World Data Centres (WDCs) were established by the International Council for Science (ICSU) to facilitate the storage and management of various types of data from different disciplines. WDCs promote open access to data in an attempt to encourage cross discipline scientific enquiry and scholarly communication.