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Cutting-edge computer science and informatics has delivered technical solutions for very large scale data storage and retrieval. Efficient data management requires, in addition to the primary storage and the applications built on top of the storage, also well developed metadata schemes (metadata being data describing and characterizing the primary experimental data), consistency in use of terms, and common frameworks allowing comparison of data collected at different time points and in different laboratories. The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF), a network of 14 National Nodes with a central Secretariat, has been established to coordinate and foster the field of neuroinformatics. One of the areas prioritized deals with the promotion of federated databases for large scale data sharing. With use of an international collaborative approach, the INCF aims at creating synergies, avoiding duplication of efforts, and facilitating dissemination of new technologies and approaches that will facilitate data sharing in neurosciences. Current activity areas focus on this and related challenges in fields such as Digital brain atlasing and Large-scale modeling of nervous system functions.