The GÉANT (GN5-2) project Above-the-Net Services Incubator is excited to announce the award of its open call to four projects aimed at developing innovative Proofs of Concept for digital services in support of European Research and Education. The selected proposals address service development priorities across three areas of strategic importance for the GÉANT community: Digital Research Environment (DRE), Object Storage Infrastructure, Data Movement Infrastructure.
Led by consortia formed across GÉANT project partners, the four awarded initiatives will receive funding in the form of dedicated Person Months (PMs) within the GN5-2 project to take their concepts forward. By supporting these Proofs of Concept, the Incubator aims to foster innovation and deliver impact, reduce risks associated with new developments, and potentially expand the GÉANT community’s service portfolio.
The Incubator team thanks all applicants for the high number of high-quality submissions received this year, which reflects the GÉANT community’s desire to innovate, co-create and collaborate on the development of digital services, for the ultimate benefit of the European Research and Education community.
Meet the awarded projects
With many of the received proposals excelling in the key evaluation criteria of potential impact and innovation, the committee’s final decision took in special consideration the projects’ support to the development of at least one of the three service concept investment proposals currently being developed by the GÉANT Above-the-Net Services team:
- Digital Research Environment (DRE)
- Object Storage Infrastructure
- Data Movement Infrastructure
Get to know the four awarded projects, the organisations that will lead them, and the strategic areas they will contribute to:
PanES3 – GÉANT DRE Storage Management in a pan-European context
Organisations: SUNET, SURF | Areas: Object Storage; DRE
Today, managing storage for research projects is essential for nearly all research, but scaling lifecycle management across projects at a pan-European level requires integration not yet achieved. PanES3 aims to tackle this, by integrating the ever-growing portfolio of pan-European S3 research storage solutions into the Proof of Concept (PoC) implementation of the GÉANT Digital Research Environment (DRE).
Based on the SURF Research Cloud, the PoC of the GÉANT DRE is showing that it is possible to provision virtual machines in environments controlled by other NRENs, requiring only a limited amount of changes to the existing codebase. The PanES3 project aims to take the next step, by extending the DRE’s functionalities and enabling it to provision and manage storage entities (S3 buckets), which can then be managed throughout their lifecycle and hosted in policy-compliant environments.
PanES3 will leverage the knowledge and expertise of SURF and SUNET, aiming to generalise the project results and apply them to other NRENs and infrastructure providers.
Additionally, the project foresees technical support and in-kind contributions from providers Safespring and Nextcloud, and collaboration with CESNET.
Sovereign Architecture for Geo-distributed European Object Storage
Organisations: CSC, DeiC, PCSS, SURF | Area: Object Storage
The project aims to explore and demonstrate the key aspects and the technical feasibility of the collective deployment of a sovereign object storage infrastructure at a pan-European scale, led by NRENs.
The proposed workplan builds upon and extends the scope of the Above-the-Net service concept development task within the GÉANT (GN5-2) project, by introducing a hands-on evaluation of both the underlying technology of choice and the potential organisational and operational models for developing and managing a cross-country, shared, federated data platform.
Participating NRENs will then prepare a detailed analysis and set of conclusions drawn from the technical and operational finding, which will serve as direct input to the ongoing service concept development work within the GN5-2 project.
MUSICA-DDM – Distributed Data Management using Rucio and FTS
Organisations: ACOnet, TU Wien/ASC | Area: Data Movement
This project aims to implement a scalable, automated data management and transfer system for MUSICA, Austria’s new distributed HPC infrastructure spanning Vienna, Linz, and Innsbruck. MUSICA-DDM addresses the key challenge of synchronising large datasets in distributed HPC environments and contributes a model for the broader GÉANT community.
Using the European-developed technologies Rucio and FTS (File Transfer Service), the project will not only enable policy-based data replication and high-throughput transfers across MUSICA’s geographically separated sites, but also efficient data movement to and from external sites across the GÉANT network. This supports cross-border scientific projects requiring large-scale data sharing, it facilitates integration with European research infrastructures and data commons, and it aligns with European efforts to build a federated EOSC.
SAGE4EU – Implementation of SAGE (Scalable Amplified Group Environment) into the GÉANT Network
Organisations: CESNET | Area: DRE
Effective research collaboration across multiple locations and countries requires suitable digital tools and shared environments that enable researchers to have both a global overview of their work and the ability to examine fine-grained details.
The Scalable Amplified Group Environment (SAGE), developed as open-source software by US universities, is designed to facilitate this kind of collaborative work. Originally intended for large-scale display walls, the latest iteration—SAGE3—extends usability across a range of devices, from immersive wall displays to desktop and laptop computers. This flexibility enables both shared lab-based collaboration and remote participation using researchers’ personal devices.
The SAGE4EU project plans to deploy at least one SAGE3 server within Europe, connect it via the GÉANT network, and integrate it with eduGAIN. Given the international nature of research teams, bringing SAGE3 into the GÉANT ecosystem and within a European context aims to offer an optimal framework for secure, high-performance collaboration.
Looking ahead
The four awarded initiatives will advance through development sprints, with larger projects expected to run until the end of 2026. Throughout this period, the Incubator team will actively monitor and report on progress, sharing the outcomes with the GÉANT project and community.
This Incubator cycle also marks an overall shift in approach, from an open-ended programme, towards a more structured initiative focused on set strategic areas. This aligns with innovation happening across the GÉANT project and community, as with the service concept developments being explored in the context of GN5-2 WP4, and with the development of the GÉANT DRE initiative and related Proofs of Concept funded by the GÉANT Innovation Programme 2025.
While this will be the only call for the Above the Net Services Incubator during GN5-2, we encourage our community to continue proposing new ideas through next edition of the GÉANT Innovation Programme, currently expected to launch in the fall of 2025.
