Presenter or main title…

Session Title or subtitle…

16 September 2011

The Potential of the Cloud AHUA ConferenceNorman Wiseman, Head of Services and Outreach, JISCRachel Bruce, Innovation Director, Digital Infrastructure, JISC

Outline

• What is the cloud?• Cloud Issues• JISC Activities and further

information• Discussions and feedback

What is the cloud? NIST definition:

• Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics (On-demand self-service, Broad network access, Resource pooling, Rapid elasticity, Measured Service)

• http://www.nist.gov/itl/cloud/index.cfm

What is the cloud?

Cloud computing is about buying services, rather than buying hardware or software

• Software as a Service (SaaS)– eg, Google Apps, Microsoft

365• Platform as a Service (PaaS)

– eg, MS Azure, Google App Engine

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)– ie, compute, storage, database– eg, Amazon Web Services,

Vmware vCloud, Eucalyptus

09/04/2023 | Slide 5

Which bit of the Cloud?

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Different kinds of cloud service are available

Picture: Kevin Dooley, CC, Attribution 2.0 generic.

Why Cloud?

Benefits from industrial scale economies

Can provide financial benefits – BUT.....

Copes with sudden peak demands for increased storage and compute requirements

Provides a suitable ‘neutral platform’ for HEI / business Collaboration

Picture: Kevin Dooley, CC, Attribution 2.0 generic.

Why Cloud?

Flexibility - pay for what is used

Elasticity – customers can scale up or down to meet demands

Capital vs recurrent

Reduces carbon footprint and other environmental benefits

A well optimised large data centre will use less energy and help battle rising carbon emissions

• Inherent efficiencies of running infrastructure at maximum capacity that the cloud model proposes begs the question as to why institutions need data centres anymore!

09/04/2023 | Slide 8

Energy Cost

Diagram credit: www.microsoft.com/environment/cloud.aspx

Picture: Kevin Dooley, CC, Attribution 2.0 generic.

Cloud Costs

Great hope or great hype?

Costing models assume zero start

Socio-economic effects

Future Proofing

Contractual Issues

Picture: Kevin Dooley, CC, Attribution 2.0 generic.

Evaluating costs / benefits

Different for research, education and administration

Not simple

Holistic view – all or nothing?

Staff costs savings vs loss of key skills

Picture: Kevin Dooley, CC, Attribution 2.0 generic.

Capital vs Recurrent

Cost peaks for software and hardware eliminated

Physical space advantages

Networks

Service as good as your network links

Resilience a critical factor Data protection

Sensitive data …data protection, US Patriot Act can be a problem

Picture: Kevin Dooley, CC, Attribution 2.0 generic.

Institutional Strategy

All the above point to the need for an institutional strategy for Cloud,

taking into account multiple factors

There is no simple equation

But there is help

JISC Activities around Cloud Computing

• Background research:

• http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/researchinfrastructure/usingcloudcomp.aspx

• Broadening use of the cloud but not high usage ; • Mostly SaaS to date: e-Mail, followed by storage, web services

and virtual learning environments. Some use of other levels of stack

• Currently, cloud does not provide HPC capability• Some institutions are using cloud to offer some virtualised

capacity, but small-scale private clouds don’t really offer the benefits of large scale commercial clouds.

Flexible Service Delivery -Experience in the sector -Agility, flexibility, efficiency, effectiveness

• Bloomsbury media cloud – repository for all six colleges – OERS for all, links to VLE

• FLeSSR – flexible services for research – hybrid cloud , working with different vendors, business case, open source / vendor assessment…on demand data management / storage. ( Reading, Eduserv )

• Pram – Postgrad research module – data for PG student management , common processes ,standards based. (Nottingham and Oxford)

Experience in the sector -

• Kindura – Hybrid cloud – SaaS repsoitories, some IaaS…use for long-term storage of research data; research as essential research output - Duraspace. (King’s College London).

• Cumulus – curriculum management in the cloud integrates with local database ( Nottingham and Roehampton)…breaking down systems – free up from monolithic vendor system

• www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/flexible-service-delivery

• 11 JISC EPSRC research cloud pilots – http://cloudresearch.jiscinvolve.org/wp/about/

Strategic Adoption

• A centrally managed approach to contracting cloud computing services (as part of an overall institutional systems strategy) to realise the efficiency benefits

• Via some shared services and advice and guidance...

JISC, Hefce UMF • Establish a brokerage in JANET(UK) that can negotiate service supply and

connect suppliers to JANET and thus create “Trusted Cloud(s)”• Pilot cloud being designed for implementation at Eduserv Data Centre• Extend the role of Data Curation Centre to deploy data management tools,

policies and support in the Trusted Cloud• Find “killer data management apps” that can be deployed to attract

researchers into the Trusted Cloud(s):– Leicester University is providing support for joint NHS and university research teams

working with tissue samples and anonymised patient data. – The University of Oxford is providing a database to a wide range of researchers in the

arts, humanities and other disciplines. – Oxford is also providing an integrated set of tools to manage data within Life Sciences

and other similar research projects. This will make it easier to submit data for longer-term storage in an appropriate standards compliant data repository.

– Southampton University is providing electronic lab data management and collaborations tools.

JANET Brokerage

• Working as the sector’s broker for Data Centre / Cloud services – develop relationships with commercial partners– aggregate sector requirements & represent the sector– negotiate advantageous terms for new services– Providing infrastructure base through brokered deals– Clearing house for spare capacity in sector and beyond

• To add value through brokering and gaining beneficial commercial arrangements, frameworks and licences etc.

JANET Brokerage

Systems and Services Procurement Support (SSPS)

What?• A specialist team established within JISC Advance to improve the effectiveness of

(non-commodity) application systems procurement in the sector and to help institutions reduce costs by moving core business systems to an off-site shared service model.

How?• A procurement service whose primary function is to support the buying/sales

process delivering the best possible deals for sector and supplier

Creating the building blocks for the interconnection of administration systems

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/umf/ssps.aspx

Delivered through JISC Advancehttp://www.jiscadvance.ac.uk

SSPS Advisory Service

By:

• Making it easier for buyers to buy IT application systems and services configured as shared services

• Making it easier for the sellers of IT applications and services to sell them as shared services

• Making it easier to exchange information securely between local and remote applications

SSPS Advisory Service

The procurement element of the service will:

• offer IT procurement advice and guidance to HEIs– With an emphasis on the use of shared services

• identify and aggregate demand so that fewer, larger procurements can be run

• establish framework agreements where warranted which institutions can use

• lead IT procurements on behalf of HEIs• up skill HEIs in the black art of IT procurement• provide vendor and contract management

RMAS Architecture

Shared Service Enterprise Service Bus

CRM WorkflowElectronic Document

Management

Academic Expertise

Funding Sourcing

Tool

Proposal Management

Costing & Pricing

Management

Post Award Management

Outputs & Outcomes

Local ESB

Module1…n

Advice and guidance

• JISC Legal – Cloud computing and the Law Toolkit - for IT, senior managers and policy makers, contracts, SLAs, terms and conditionshttp://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/ManageContent/ManageContent/tabid/243/ID/2135/JISC-Legal-Cloud-Computing-and-the-Law-Toolkit-31082011.aspx

• More to come...as developments through the cloud innovation programmes – what is cloud, benefits, risks, service models, getting started, costing, case studies etc.

Discussion and Feedback

What are the top five issues, concerns that you face in terms of adopting the cloud ?

Five things you need, to be able to use the cloud effectively ?