Facing the challenge of relevance Erwin Bleumink 4 June 2013 TNC13

Not much more than a placeholder to satisfy the system ;-)

In one slide SURFnet challenges 1.Add value over what commercial organisations deliver 2.Reaching the end users 3.Connect our users to their relevant partners with IT In meeting these challenges we see value in international collaboration An effective way of collaborating internationally effectively to meet these challenges is lacking

1. Add value over what commercial organisations deliver Description: From a situation in which the research & education community was leading we moved to a world where the consumer market leads much of the innovation. Of course high end research demand and specific demand for R&E is still not met in an effective way. How we cope with this challenge Use the market's potential by making available what is available in the market on our user community's terms: (1) pricing, (2) legal terms, and (3) integration with institutional systems Don't enter the rat race with commercial providers and actively phase out services also delivered by commercial parties Focus on exploring, piloting and creating new services in which the demand of our community is (currently) unique and/or the market is not able to deliver, e.g. LMS, 100G. Focus on connecting systems & services from different providers and connected institutes International collaboration opportunities joint deals/negotiations with commercial providers to obtain better terms for services [demand aggregation] establish interconnection on e.g. network (we have a joint history & present in this of course) and identity federations and beyond [seamlessly connect users between countries], and do joint R&D in that area deliver other NREN's services to our national community [specialisation]

2. Reaching the users Description: The institutes are our shareholders via their governing boards and "customers" via their IT department. But our main added value we deliver to their users. The IT departments are taking another role than before. They focus on strategic buying, contract & service level management and on corporate IT. Users bypass the IT department for their most important IT services, whether these are mind mapping tools, or mass storage. The institutional IT landscape might get out of control from e.g. a responsibility (privacy, data ownership, …) and cost perspective. How we cope with this challenge Work with both the IT department and user communities, and connecting those Lowering barriers to usage for services by end users and inspire the use of new functionality and high end services via e.g. competitions Integrate high end services as light paths, capacity and capability computing and large scale storage and support for these, together with SARA and the Netherlands Center for e- Science International collaboration opportunities Create showcases and awareness etc. e.g. via joint contest such as Enlighten Your Research Reach out to international users “together”

3. Connect our users to their relevant partners with IT Description: The users are increasingly working together across organisational boundaries: both in flexible groups, in more formal virtual organisations and joint research and education programs. These collaborations extend beyond sectoral R&E boundaries into business and government and across national and continental boundaries. How to facilitate an easy collaboration across organisational boundaries with no central IT decision making? How to facilitate collaboration beyond the boundaries of our national community: with e.g. companies and government in the Netherlands and with research, education and business internationally How we cope with this challenge Taking away barriers for collaboration for our community to work together with other organisations, sectors or countries International collaboration opportunities Roll out global identity federations such as eduroam and edugain, to lower barriers for collaboration globally Jointly deliver services to international research & education organisations, e.g. large research collaboration, international research organisations ( UN, NATO, ESA) and internationalising universities (e.g. American & UK universities expanding to China)

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