“As cloud grows in relevance to research, we’re leveraging our expertise to support researchers, learning their needs and adjusting our approach. Engaging with the Internet2 community helps us stay ahead of industry shifts,” said Hellen Zziwa, senior director of technology advisory and planning for Harvard University Information Technology and CommEX25 program committee member.
The cloud-focused program at CommEX25 was designed and built by cloud leaders in R&E. Each session responds to an urgent need facing the community and features speakers bringing new ideas or solutions to the table.
There is a lot to drink in over the course of CommEX25 — especially if you’re interested in all things cloud. To help you map out your conference, here are three key insights you’ll pick up throughout your week in Anaheim.
Explore Artificial Intelligence Initiatives
There aren’t many topics garnering more attention on campus today than AI.
R&E leaders worldwide are being tasked with figuring out strategies and implementations for AI across help desks, research workflows, service delivery, and everything in between.
At CommEX25, the Challenges & Opportunities with Emerging Technologies track alone features more than a dozen sessions about AI. Speakers will cover how their campuses ethically integrate AI into campus infrastructure.
“Shifts in federal funding, data privacy regulations, and AI governance are influencing how institutions approach emerging technologies,” said Melanie Douglas, deputy CIO and associate vice chancellor for technology and services at UC Santa Cruz. Douglas also served on the program committee for CommEX25. “The conversations at CommEX25 will provide a critical space to navigate these evolving challenges and opportunities.”
On Wednesday, April 30, Internet2 NET+ Program Manager Quyen Vaillant leads Maximizing AI in Higher Education: Panel Insights on Deployment and Impact, a morning discussion featuring experts who have successfully implemented new AI technologies at their institution. The session will cover deployment strategies for AI-enhanced NET+ services, including planning, execution, and integration into existing institutional infrastructure.
For an in-depth exploration of how R&E institutions can bring AI to campus, sit in on the session Scaling AI and Cloud Education with Miami Dade College, AWS Academy, & Vocareum on Thursday, May 1. Dr. Diego Tibaquirá, a professor of Computer Science at Miami Dade College, shares how the college leveraged AWS Academy through Vocareum’s lab platform to deliver essential AI and cloud computing services to its students.
A few sessions at CommEX25 will be of particular interest to attendees who want to learn about — and utilize — the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot (NAIRR).
The NAIRR team will be on hand the morning of April 30 to hold a NAIRR Pilot State of the Union. Later that day, several members of the Internet2 team lead another panel discussion on how to take advantage of AI resources available from the NAIRR Pilot. Learn how research computing and data professionals can help researchers and educators on their campuses utilize these AI resources.
Get Up Close and Personal with Community-Driven Resources
Throughout CommEX25, attendees have the opportunity to learn more about and interact with new tools built by the R&E community.
Everyone is encouraged to stop by the Cloud Scorecard demo near the main session room to meet the NET+ team and learn about the growing portfolio of NET+ services.
The new NET+ Cloud Scorecard is an open-source tool that helps R&E institutions discover, review, and select cloud solutions based on many criteria. Get your hands on the new Cloud Scorecard — and provide feedback — as you explore more than 80 cloud vendors part of NET+ services.
On Tuesday, April 29, sit in on the session Collaborative Cloud Innovation: Harnessing the Power of Community-Driven Solutions in Higher Education for a rundown of some Internet2 cloud initiatives powered by the foundation of knowledge sharing.
Bob Flynn, senior program manager at Internet2, leads the discussion on three separate community-led approaches to finding dynamic cloud solutions.
“Mounting fiscal pressure is forcing us to find new ways to keep our teams learning, growing, and serving the institution at a lower cost,” Flynn said. “During the pandemic, we came to appreciate the value of networking and collaboration with peers. The Collaborative Cloud Innovation: Harnessing the Power of Community-Driven Solutions in Higher Education session will highlight some creative ways the cloud community is learning from and with each other.”
Navigating the Vendor Ecosystem with NET+
How do you manage the never-ending stream of cloud-based vendors within your institutional infrastructure? Learn from your colleagues in R&E at CommEX25 as they share best practices (and potential pitfalls) for vendor management.
The CommEX25 program features several sessions to help R&E leaders navigate complicated vendor-related issues, from risk management to scalable integration.
On Wednesday, April 30, Emily Perry, a software supply chain manager at the University of Arizona, and Emma Levett, the associate director of software asset and vendor management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lead an afternoon session on vendor management that every R&E institution should be interested in.
How can executives and vendors alike prioritize time spent between projects? At Supplier Segmentation: A Building Block for Vendor Management, Perry and Levett share how their institutions segmented vendors and how that approach has led to more efficient vendor management practices.
To kick off CommEX25, you can enroll in the day-long Vendor and Third-Party Risk Management Workshop. This workshop, held Monday, April 28, dives into the essentials of vendor management, including technical, procurement, legal, IT accessibility, and information security considerations.
All CommEX25 workshops require separate registration. If you are interested in the workshop but have not yet registered, you can secure your seat today.
Here is a quick rundown of other vendor management-related sessions at CommEX25:
- Wednesday, April 30: Innovating for Impact: Scaling HSI Success with Cloud-Driven Solutions
- Thursday, May 1: Community Scale Third Party Risk Management 2024
- Thursday, May 1: Secure Storage – How Indiana University Tackles Cloud Storage Onboarding
We’ll See You in Anaheim