Provide a shared, binding framework … seeking to aggregate demand for or provide shared IT services across multiple institutions.
Examples: Sourcing from a commercial provider – storage, Exchange service, VMs, etc. Provisioning amongst ourselves – bilateral, multiuniversity, or one institution providing service for others.
Benefits – Economies of scale, increased efficiency through standardization, enhancing collaboration and sharing, streamlined contracting.
Talked with NACUA about potential legal issues – antitrust, issues across publics and privates, software code escrow, liability/indemnity, state law issues, tax issues, personnel rules, intellectual prperty rights distribution, establishing enforceable service-level. This was discussed at NACUA meeting in July. Subset of CSG working group working on an RFP with folks from NACUA. Not focusing on technical aspects, but on shared aggregation. Would have an appended SLA to talk about service levels. Test cases – outsourcing faculty/staff email, shared data center space. For fac/staff email, CSG reps articulated technical issues and aligned existing contractual/RFP statements with those, NACUA reps worked up strawman RFP this past Monday.
Issues outlined were around data – key one being ownership. Security, retention/disposal to comply with statutes, integrity of data, privacy and confidentiality, integration and operational issues (e.g. integration with existing campus/federated IAM), supporting aggregation and coordination of demand were also issues.
Data Center Sharing – just starting to work on this example. Three aspects have come up in discussions so far – I want to use your data center, Need additional services, Fully managed services
Next steps: finalizing RFP, flesh out data center use case, articulate the value proposition for vendors.
Asbed talks about the arrangements USC has made with Clemson to share data center space. Provides off-site storage.
Oren Sreebny 