Catching Up on the Cloud: Fall 2024

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Internet2 NET+ and Other Cloud Program Updates

“It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.”

—B.C. Forbes, Founder, Forbes Magazine

Our team has been hard at work planting seeds to expand the portfolio of services and resources made available through the NET+ Program and other Internet2 cloud programs. We are excited about the two most recent additions to the NET+ portfolio, 1Password and Echo Labs. These services bring important tools to the research and education cloud community.

NET+ 1Password, a password management service for storing credentials, software licenses, and other sensitive information in a virtual vault, offers solutions for managing security in the cloud. The availability of captioning and transcription services from NET+ Echo Labs aligns with ongoing efforts to enhance the accessibility of services used in higher education.

We are ever mindful that such a rich harvest of NET+ services is possible because of dedicated NET+ community volunteers. We are continuing our series of blog posts highlighting Cloud Superheroes, individuals who have made significant contributions to moving our work forward and facilitating community. Check out our interviews with Doug Streit, Ian Crew, and Sara Christen.  (You can be a superhero too! Check out current opportunities to participate in NET+ working groups, service evaluations, and service advisory boards.)

As we begin the final quarter of the year, we’re pleased to highlight a harvest of services and opportunities for collaboration and learning that illustrate our commitment to supporting you through all the seasons of your cloud journey. We’ll do our part to ensure all the right components fall into place as you continue on your journey to success in the cloud.

Candidates Count

It’s that time of the year, but we’re not going to text you or send you an email; however, we do want your feedback on new capabilities and services for the NET+ portfolio. Several NET+ candidate services are currently under review, including research cyberinfrastructure and third-party risk management. If there’s a service you would like for us to consider adding to the portfolio, please let us know.

Webinar Wisdom

Last month we launched a webinar series, Discovering the Power of NET+ Services. The series takes participants on a journey through all NET+ Programs, where they will be introduced to their program managers, learn about community activities, hear more about special contract terms and higher education-focused pricing, check in on Service Advisory Board updates, and see how they can take advantage of all program benefits. A lot of community care and effort goes into making NET+ a shared voice for research and higher education (R&E) institutions like yours, and we plan to highlight those efforts over the coming weeks. Please register and join us.

CLASS Can Help Create AI and Cloud Superstars 

We’ve got best in CLASS cloud training available. Check out our calendar of upcoming courses. From accelearing AI adoption and getting ahead of the AI learning curve to understanding the cloud essentials for the research and education community, CLASS has got it covered. Learn more about unlocking the power of cloud for research and education.

Other Cloud Program Updates

Internet2 Insight Console Offers Increased Flexibility and Ease in Managing Multicloud Environments:

Internet2 Insight Console now offers fully automated, self-service capabilities for managing connectivity to all four major cloud providers supported by Cloud Connect: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). With the rollout of fully automated provisioning for all four cloud providers, institutions now benefit from greater ease and flexibility in dynamically adjusting their cloud connectivity to meet research, education, and operational needs.

New and Next

Check out new Internet2 Cloud Scorecard participants in the past quarter:

• Kentik
• Ziotag
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
  

If there is a cloud service you would like to see listed, please reach out to us with your suggestion(s).

We are fortunate to have so many wonderful opportunities to be in collaboration with members of the R&E cloud community at upcoming conferences.

Cloud Service Updates

Here’s the latest news from the NET+ portfolio of services. Have questions? Want to sign up? Want to get involved? Please email us at netplus@internet2.edu

• NET+ LastPass amendment: The NET+ LastPass program recently completed an amendment adding a new discount for campuses that want to pre-pay for multiple year agreements based on previous campus requests. Campuses can pre-pay for two years to get a 2.5% discount and for three years to get a 5% discount. 

• Townhall Series for NET+ ServiceNow Subscribers: We’ve launched a monthly NET+ ServiceNow Townhall Series. These monthly webinars are a benefit of the NET+ Program and are open to subscribers only. If you’re a current NET+ ServiceNow subscriber, get the details about the monthly webinars. 

• The Internet2 Cloud Infrastructure Community Program: CICP is a collection of benefits to subscribers of the Internet2 NET+ AWS and NET+ GCP programs. In addition to a regular cadence of open discussion technical calls, we organize specialized webinars, discussions, and technical deep dives. This calendar lists our recent topics. Unless otherwise indicated, access to the meetings, recordings, and assets are limited to subscribing institutions. If your institution subscribes to one or both of these programs (AWS subscribers | GCP subscribers) click on the asset link and request access. 

Spotlight on NET+ Service Providers 

We’re pleased to continue inviting NET+ service providers to share articles, blog posts, webinars, or other content relevant to cloud practitioners in the R&E community. Take a look at the resources they shared this quarter:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Check out session recordings, a new case study, and the latest HECVAT.
  • Faculty, staff and researchers are innovating on AWS. Explore the 2024 AWS IMAGINE conference session recordings to learn more about the insights gained on their cloud journeys and how they are accelerating transformation at their institutions and leveraging cloud to speed scientific innovation and productivity.  
  • Read a new case study about Vanderbilt University’s open source Amplify GenAI platform and learn how this secure, cost-effective, and flexible solution is enhancing their academic and administrative operations. The software is available for download from GitHub.
  • The latest AWS Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit (HECVAT) is now available for download from AWS Artifact or can be requested from your organization’s account manager.
• DryvIQ – Check out our latest article, Smart Solutions for Cloud Migration Challenges with Intelligent Data Management. Learn about seven best practices for a smooth cloud storage migration backed by real-world success stories. Whether you’re just starting to think about beginning a migration journey or looking to optimize your approach, these insights can help ensure a seamless transition.
• LabArchives – Did you know about these latest NIH initiatives?
  • The National Institutes of Health (NIH) licenses all LabArchives research products (ELN for Research, Inventory, Scheduler, 16GB) enterprise wide for all researchers across 27 institutes and centers at NIH. 
  • NIH is providing centrally supported commercial electronic laboratory notebooks for use NIH wide. Use of NIH-provided ELNs offers numerous benefits to researchers, such as in-platform collaboration, accelerated data sharing, and extensive capabilities for assuring data integrity. Further, use of centrally supported ELNs reduces operating costs and simplifies compliance with applicable regulations and Investigator responsibilities.  
• Miro –  Get  more details about an exciting product launch later this year, called Intelligent Canvas, which includes a feature called Accessibility Checker.
  • Learn how Boston University is using Miro to teach innovation as part of Canvas ’24 taking place October 8.
• Panopto – Learn more about Panopto Connect, which just launched. Register here to receive an invite for a webinar on October 17 at 2 pm ET. 
  • ICYMI: Check exciting updates on AI and Analytics innovations shared earlier this summer.

This will be a regular feature in our quarterly newsletter, so be sure to keep an eye out for it! 

Keep Up With the Cloud

As always, we welcome your ideas and appreciate your contributions to our cloud programs! Interested in participating in one or more NET+ service evaluations? Or have feedback for other prospective services for the program? Don’t know where to start? Email cloud@internet2.edu.

Catching Up on the Cloud brings you all the latest Internet2 cloud updates. Whether you’re supporting the academic enterprise, research domain, or anything in between, these timely announcements and updates will help you with the best solutions for implementing cloud services at your institution.