US: Shaping the higher education cloud

30 May 2010

As technologies such as virtualisation and cloud computing assume important places within the information technology landscape, higher education leaders will need to consider which institutional services they wish to leave to consumer choice, which ones they wish to source and administer 'somewhere else', and which services they should operate centrally or locally on campus, write Karla Hignite, Richard N Katz and Ronald Yanosky in an EDUCAUSE white paper titled Shaping the Higher Education Cloud.

In February 2010, chief information officers, chief business officers, and industry leaders gathered in Tempe, Arizona, for a two-day EDUCAUSE-NACUBO Cloud Computing Workshop to explore what shape a higher education cloud might take and to identify opportunities and models for partnering together.

One important option is the development of collaborative service offerings among colleges and universities. Yet substantial challenges raise at least some near-term concerns including risk, security and governance issues; uncertainty about return on investment and service provider certification; and questions regarding which business and academic activities are best suited for the cloud. This white paper captures key findings from those two days of exploring, including recommendations for cloud action.
Full white paper on the EDUCAUSE site

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