AHM Workshop UMF Shared Services and the Cloud

The UMF Shared Services and the Cloud Programme is building a shared infrastructure with suppliers brokered by JANET(UK) and support for research data management provided by DCC. The infrastructure will develop into a HE cloud and will support both research data management and enterprise application deployment. The workshop provided an update on progress and the current offering to the research community, and also provided researchers with the opportunity to influence the future direction and offering of the services.

Aims

The UMF Shared Services and the Cloud Programme is building a shared infrastructure with suppliers brokered by JANET(UK) and support for research data management provided by DCC. The infrastructure will develop into a HE cloud and will support both research data management and enterprise application deployment. The workshop provided an update on progress and the current offering to the research community, and also provided researchers with the opportunity to influence the future direction and offering of the services.

It consisted of two panel sessions: the first from the partners providing and brokering the cloud infrastructure; and the second from the software as a service pilots being deployed on the infrastructure.

The first half of each presentation covered project objectives and progress: what is the project trying to do and where has it got to? In particular, presenters should also seek to communicate the rationale behind the project and its place in the broader objectives of the UMF Shared Services and Cloud initiative. The second half of each presentation was used to encourage debate on future directions. For example, what do people perceive as barriers to uptake and their mitigation? Do people have suggestions for technical directions and functional enhancements? What thoughts do people have on business models and fit with research funding?