GÉANT Cloud Frameworks
Since 2016, GÉANT’s flagship cloud frameworks have fostered digital transformation across Europe, by enabling easy, convenient, and compliant consumption of commercial cloud services for Research and Education (R&E) institutions. These frameworks - the 2016 IaaS, 2020 IaaS+ (aka OCRE), and now the OCRE 2024 Framework - are developed by the GÉANT community, for the GÉANT community. Together with your country’s NREN Cloud Manager, they allow institutions to procure cloud services fast, efficiently and cost-effectively.
The new GÉANT cloud framework – OCRE 2024 – is available as of 3 February 2025 and will be in place for a period of five years.
Reduced Cost and Complexity
The frameworks reduce the cost and complexity of cloud service procurement
- No institutional tendering is required
- Significant discounts are available thanks to pan-European aggregation and the economies of scale
- Advantageous terms and conditions on offer
The frameworks are in compliance with all relevant EU Regulations (Procurement, VAT, GDPR etc.). Call-off Contracts with supplier are under local laws and local in-country platform support and call-off is provided as standard.
Improved Service
Cloud service access is enhanced through supplier peering at points of presence on the GÉANT pan-European network with significant data ingress/egress waivers in place to reduce costs and improve pricing stability.
All platforms support SAML2/OIDC protocol with eduGAIN to improve user accessibility, reduce onboarding costs and complexity and provide assurances for identity and privacy management.
The frameworks include not only Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) but also Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).
OCRE 2020 Cloud Framework (aka 2020 IaaS+ Framework)
The OCRE 2020 Framework (also known as 2020 IaaS+ Framework) lasted from 1 December 2020 until 30 November 2024. It was supported by the OCRE (Open Clouds for Research Environments) project, an EC funded project aiming to provide research and education users easier access to cloud services across Europe.
The OCRE 2020 Framework supported 40 European countries with a framework of 473 commercial cloud contracts to ease access and provide volume discounts to research and education institutions. Working in conjunction with members of the GÉANT project, this framework offered substantial benefits to the R&E community. For a list of platforms and service providers that were part of the OCRE 2020 Framework, visit: https://clouds.geant.org/2020iaasplusframeworkproviders
Please note: starting from 1 December 2024 it's not possible anymore to contract new Call of Contracts or to sign contract extensions with OCRE 2020 suppliers. For information on outstanding call-offs from the previous 2016 IaaS Framework and OCRE 2020 Framework (also known as 2020 IaaS+), please reach out to your local NREN representative or to GÉANT.