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IaaS cloud delivery progress

Over the past year, GÉANT has conducted a joint pan-European tender for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offerings: a collective invitation to providers, to submit a bid to supply their IaaS solutions to research and education institutions across Europe. The tender for 36 countries attracted strong interest, and a total of more than 20 providers, including Microsoft and Amazon resellers, qualified for contracts.

The suppliers’ capabilities are shown in the online IaaS service matrix, as part of the GÉANT cloud catalogue: https://catalogue.geant.org (requires login)

National Deployments of IaaS Cloud Services are Just Around the Corner

Currently, the following providers have signed a Framework Agreement with GÉANT: CloudSigma, KPN, Vancis, ITsoft and Lattelecom. Most of the other suppliers are in the final stages for signing and are expected to be completed in January 2017.

Most NRENs have assigned a designated cloud service delivery manager, or team, and are already in touch with their institutions and talking to IaaS providers, in order to prepare for national delivery of IaaS solutions.

Before a sale can be completed, a service commencement form needs to be signed between the national NRENs and the supplier, which stipulates the NREN’s role and cost recovery. The GÉANT cloud team has created a template for download, which is available from the NREN cloud managers’ Box folder.

Also, a contract package for each provider will be made available by GÉANT through a web based document repository with eduGAIN authentication. This repository is accessible for appointed NREN cloud managers, who can delegate access to representatives in  their institutions. The NREN cloud managers also have access to an online BOX folder with further cloud documentation.

Communication and meetings

The weekly Cloud Forum VC sessions to discuss delivery and adoption are held every Friday at 10:00 CET in the Cloud Team VC room: http://lifesizecloud.com/2750418.

On January 27, the Cloud Forum VC will be dedicated to legal and procurement aspects, with specialists from the GÉANT cloud team joining. We invite the NREN cloud managers to prepare and send us questions beforehand and to invite their legal and procurement colleagues to join this call.

An informative meetup for NREN Cloud Manager and IaaS suppliers will be held on January 31,-February 1, 2017 at the SURFnet office in Utrecht, the Netherlands, to discuss national deployments. Read more and register at https://eventr.geant.org/events/2552. This will be a great opportunity to share ideas, and get concrete information from suppliers who are coming to answer our community’s specific questions. Hope to see you there.

For more information or questions, please contact the clouds team at: clouds@geant.org

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