This workshop, organised by the GÉANT Clouds team, will be divided into two parts, focusing both on ongoing and perspective GÉANT cloud activities.
The session will start with an overview of the team’s current activities, goals and plans for Above-the-Net services, of the ongoing collaboration with SIG-CISS and with other initiatives, with insights on community developments, and on the unique role of GÉANT and of the NRENs in the procurement and distribution of commercial cloud services towards the pan-European R&E community.
Following on, there will be a detailed presentation the flagship GÉANT Cloud frameworks, of their evolution from 2016 until present days, highlighting their impact, growth over the years and cost savings generated. Additionally, we will hear about the status and benefits for institutions of the upcoming OCRE 2024 framework, about the key role of Cloud Service Delivery Managers (CSDMs) at NRENs and about the importance of good communications between the GÉANT Cloud team, CSDMs, and end users.
Hendrik Ike, Public Affairs Manager at GÉANT, will provide an overview of the Open Science policy landscape, with a particular focus on EOSC and on the implications of the EU Digital Services Act.
The workshop will then move to discussions on strategic planning for GÉANT cloud activities, cloud infrastructure and use cases, leading into the SIG-CISS meeting by introducing the topic of sensitive data as well as the role of NRENs in Trusted Research Environments (TREs). We will also hear about the progress and initial achievements of the GÉANT Cloud Strategy forum and about future plans and developments regarding Above-the-Net services in the GN5-2 project. Concluding the session, Ivar Janmaat from SURF will give a demonstration of the SURF Research Cloud, a platform for research and collaboration where researchers can easily build Virtual Research Environments (VREs).