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The GÉANT Cloud Summit – getting ready for adoption

Around 70 representatives from European NRENs and cloud service suppliers gathered in Utrecht for the GÉANT Cloud Summit 31 January and 1 February.

The summit is a part of the efforts to offer a range of infrastructure services to European research and higher education. 36 European National research and Education Networks (NRENs) are collaborating in a procurement of commercial Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services. Through an open procurement process, services from 22 different providers and resellers were awarded framework contracts.

The summit was a chance for cloud managers from the NRENs to learn about the offerings from cloud suppliers. The program consisted of supplier presentations, GÉANT briefings, and meet and greet breakout sessions. High on the agenda was how to ensure uptake and adoption amongst the European user community once framework agreements are signed.

NRENs preparing

In addition to meeting the providers and resellers, NREN cloud managers also exchanged ideas and plans for national adoption of the IaaS services. Quite a few NRENs are already in the process of meeting both suppliers and customers, and presenting the services at conferences and workshops. These efforts will be increased and supported by the suppliers once contracts are in place.

GÉANT support

GÉANT has a team in place to support aoption and uptake of services. Both NRENs and vendors can find updated information, use cases, papers and other materials on clouds.geant.org, as well as links to the cloud services catalogue and service matrix. The adoption support team organizes meetings and workshops, as well as coordinates GÉANT Cloud Activity participation and presence at international and national conferences. There’s also a weekly cloud forum webinar, Fridays at 10:00 CET.

For more information, contact the GÉANT cloud team at clouds@geant.org, or visit clouds.geant.org.

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