JISC

The JISC approach to infrastructure

Infrastructure services support innovation by providing world-class infrastructure with the economies of scale only found through central funding & provision The JISC mission statement describes the JISC aspiration to 'deliver [...] innovative and sustainable ICT infrastructure, services and practice that support institutions in meeting their missions'. The primary driver for the JISC investment in infrastructure services is to support innovation by providing world-class infrastructure with the economies of scale which can only be found through central funding and provision.

Another key driver for JISC investment is that infrastructure is inclusive, universal and free at the point of use. JANET, for example, is provided to every education and research institution nominated by the funding bodies. Institutions do not opt in to JANET: they are given a JANET connection because JISC, on behalf of the funders, has instructed the network operator to provide it. This connection is provided in accordance with the JISC Funded Primary Connection Policy.

Through this approach, every education and research institution in the UK has access to a private network which is not only a provider of exclusive access between institutions for collaboration in learning, teaching and research but also exceeds in its quality and comprehensive range of value-added services, anything which can be purchased by an individual institution (no matter how wealthy) on the open market.

On the same basis, JISC funds EDINA and Mimas, its two National Data Centres (NDCs), which provide state-of-the-art facilities for hosting and serving of complex content- and data-sets. The NDCs are centres of excellence where skilled teams of people ensure that everything they do is cutting-edge, making the NDCs beacons and exemplars of best practice, for example, in the implementation of the JISC Integrated Information Environment and the e-Framework.

Primary infrastructure services commissioned and supported by JISC
JANETprovided by JANET(UK)
EDINA at the University of Edinburgh
Mimas at the University of Manchester
Other services supported by JISC infrastructure budget core grants
JISC Collections a mutual-trading company set up by JISC to negotiate access to high-quality content on behalf of the UK Education sector
BUFVC is a membership organisation and charity operating in the field of film and television, particularly in the areas of scholarly research about and re-use of, broadcast material for educational purposes
ESDS the Economic and Social Data Service at the University of Essex
Reporting on SLAs and service outcomes
JISC Monitoring Unit at the University of Kent provides detailed information about all JISC infrastructure Service Level Agreements (SLAs), connected sites, performance levels and useful historical data