By Tara Gyenis, NET+ Program Development Manager
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
In the rapidly evolving cloud landscape, we recognize that the research and education community needs efficient means to identify and assess cloud services for compliance, security and technology requirements specific to higher education and research.
Loren Malm, CIO of Ball State University, expressed the sentiment of many in our community: “We want more NET+. […] How can we leverage the great work done in NET+ to develop standards?” Whereas the NET+ program offers depth through comprehensive service evaluations, the Cloud Scorecard lists a broad range of services that are self-assessed. We may as a result discover which cloud services are of high interest to the community to pursue a NET+ service evaluation.
Cloud VendorsSee which cloud service vendors are early participants in the Internet2 Cloud Scorecard Pilot program who are committed to working with higher education and research institutions. |
The Internet2 Cloud Scorecard Pilot Directory was introduced to the community in an I2 Online event on November 3. The Directory will be updated regularly, as cloud service vendors are participating on a rolling basis. Make sure to review the directory whenever you are investigating which cloud-based solutions may meet your institution’s needs. Interested solution providers should contact us for more information about participating. Tyler Long of Kion (formerly cloudtamer.io) praised the streamlined approach of the Cloud Scorecard process, describing it as “very easy, very straightforward.”
To provide additional value, Loren Malm proposed adding a request to vendors to complete the Cloud Scorecard as part of an RFP. The Cloud Scorecard Working Group he chaired created a questionnaire to serve as a baseline document for collecting information relevant to procuring cloud services in the higher education and research environment. By guiding vendors, there is further benefit to the community of saving time (and expense) through a more efficient procurement process. Whether you are a technologist searching for a solution or an administrator handling procurement, the Cloud Scorecard Directory collects relevant information in one location.
It’s a win-win as cloud service vendors also save time and money, which was confirmed by Soham Khaitan, co-founder of Ambi and an early participant in the pilot program. “Having an organization such as Internet2 streamline the process in terms of the compliance documents, you only need and do it once, and that has been very helpful for us,” said Khaitan.
Tyler Long echoes those sentiments, adding that participating in the Cloud Scorecard makes sense “…not only to get additional exposure to the broader community but also as a learning opportunity for our company.” We strive to make it easier for vendors to meet our community where it matters most for common requirements.
“The Cloud Scorecard has made it easy for us and allowed us to focus on our value-add.” – Soham Khaitan, Ambi
The next phase for the Cloud Scorecard Working Group kicked off December 3rd with representatives from the higher ed community and cloud service vendors reviewing the status of the pilot program and offering guidance on next steps and feature requests. Provide us with your feedback to shape the development of this assessment tool from a pilot to production mode. Sean O’Brien, Director of Internet2 Cloud Services, summarized the opportunity well: “There are so many cloud services that the only way we can navigate this ecosystem is by working together.”