By
Sean O’Brien - Associate Vice President, NET+, Internet2
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Internet2 NET+ and Other Cloud Program Updates
How Can We Help You Keep Your Cloud New Year’s Resolutions?
Did you know… the tradition of making New Year’s resolutions dates back to over 4,000 years ago? As a cloud practitioner, what’s your New Year’s resolution for 2024? In this edition of Catching Up on the Cloud, we provide some ways the NET+ Program and other Internet2 cloud programs can support your resolve to implement or expand your cloud strategy this year.
Build connections and collaborate at in person events.
The 2024 Internet2 Community Exchange, March 4 – 7, 2024 in Chicago, includes a carefully curated cloud track of sessions, addressing the issues most critical for your consideration as you develop and implement your cloud strategy. Cloud topics include:
Check out a full list of cloud content at the event!
To take advantage of reduced rates, register by January 19.
Working in collaboration with an organizing committee of your peers, we’re once again serving as the conveners of The Higher Education Cloud Forum, the premiere gathering for higher education IT professionals to discuss the challenges, potential, and best practices for using hyper-scale computing tools and platforms to support enterprise computing and academic research as well as teaching and learning. The forum will be held April 30 – May 2, 2024, at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Watch for registration to open on February 1, 2024.
Learn something new with training.
Get your team the cloud training they need. The 7th cohort of AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certification training hosted by CLASS begins on February 19, 2024. The course runs for nine weeks, ending on April 26, 2024. Reserve your space in the course today.
The 3rd cohort of GCP Professional Cloud Architect Certification training hosted by CLASS also begins on February 19, 2024 runs through April 26, 2024. Reserve your space in this course today.
For more information about these upcoming training cohorts, please contact class@internet2.edu. To hear about upcoming training opportunities, sign up for the CLASS mailing list.
Internet2 Insight Console Adds Virtual Networks Feature: Last year was a big one for Internet2 Insight Console, the web-based interface that empowers members to visualize, manage, and troubleshoot Internet2 network services. Recently Internet2 Network Architect Scott Taylor offered a closer look at Virtual Networks, the newest Insight Console feature released in late October 2023 following the successful migration of more than 2,000 active connections from OESS and the Cloud Connect Portal – an effort that involved zero downtime. This feature is the culmination of a significant redesign and modernization of the way Internet2 members interact with network services, reflecting deep engagement with and input from our community.
New NET+ cloud services for R&E. The NET+ Program continues to work with the R&E community to evaluate and add news services to its portfolio. We hope you’ll consider participating in NET+ service evaluations for 1Password and Pathify that we are kicking off early this year. Take our survey by January 31 to let us know how you would like to be involved.
In addition, last year the NET+ team launched a working group focused on third-party risk management. The group is sharing experiences in vendor management and third-party risk management of vendors in this space to help develop use cases and requirements for a potential RFP and NET+ service evaluation this year. Please contact Nick Lewis if you have any questions or would like to be involved.
Get recognized for your contributions.
Melissa Loble
Damian Doyle
A year of superheroes. Throughout last year, we shared blog posts highlighting Cloud Superheroes. These individuals have made significant contributions to moving our work forward and facilitating community. Check out our recent interviews with Melissa Loble of Instructure and Damian Doyle from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
We are continuing this series in 2024, so be on the lookout for additional interviews. Please email amotley@internet2.edu if there’s a Cloud Superhero you would like us to spotlight on our website and in Catching Up on the Cloud. (You can be a superhero too! Check out current opportunities to participate in NET+ working groups, service evaluations, and service advisory boards.)
Catch up on things you may have missed in 2023; see what’s coming in 2024.
Instant Replay. You’ve got great cloud resources right at your fingertips. NET+ services often host town halls or virtual events for subscribers leveraging the NET+ agreement. From time to time, we open up these calls to the broader R&E community or make the recordings available afterwards. Want to support our work bringing this content to the community, subscribe to NET+ services! Check out these recordings from five of our recent community events:
- During the most recent townhall hosted by NET+ DocuSign, Rachel Sligar at the University of Virginia, shared details about UVA’s DocuSign implementation, for which her team received a Sustainability Award. DocuSign’s Jessica Rivera also participated and offered an overview of integrations and API capabilities, including the most common implemented across higher ed institutions. Access the recording.
- The December NET+ ServiceNow townhall addressed “ITSM or CSM: When to Use Which.” Higher education has complex problems not found in any other sector. As such, it can be difficult to determine if you should use ITSM or CSM for particular use cases. Watch the recording to gain insights from Terry Fernandez of American University, Tina Watson of Western Governors University, and ServiceNow’s Tim Raymond.
- NET+ AWS Quarterly Strategy Call held in November 2023 discussed “How Athletic Departments Can Use the Cloud to Gain an Advantage.” Access the recording and learn how the University of Pittsburgh is using AWS to create Fan360 – a database to better understand the university’s fanbase, improve marketing, better target alumni outreach, and increase ticket sales.
- The NET+ Canvas Program hosted a webinar, “Empowering Education with Canvas Credentials: Indiana University’s Stakeholder Engagement and Microcredential Approach.” Learn more by watching the recording.
- Jon Allen and Reuben Castillo were the speakers for the September NET+ Splunk Community Call and presented Baylor University’s journey of migrating to Splunk Cloud, the processes involved and challenges faced. In case you missed it, the recording of the event is now available.
New Series for NET+ ServiceNow Subscribers: Next month, we’re launching a monthly NET+ ServiceNow Town Hall series. These monthly webinars are a benefit of the NET+ Program and are open to subscribers only. If you’re a current NET+ ServiceNow subscriber, get the details about the monthly webinars. If you would like to participate as a speaker in one of the upcoming town halls or have suggestions for topics for other town halls, please reach out to netplus@interent2.edu, and we can get you involved. To learn more about subscribing to this service, contact us.
Spotlight on NET+ Service Providers:
We kicked off the New Year by inviting NET+ service providers to share articles, blog posts, webinars, or other content relevant to cloud practitioners in the R&E community. Take a look at the resources they offered:
- Amazon Web Services – Are you interested in hearing from AWS experts about the top announcements from AWS re:Invent 2023, tailored to educational institutions and government agencies? Please join us for an AWS re:Invent 2023 re:Cap for Education and Government (January 23, 1 – 2:30 p.m. ET | 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. PT). This 90-minute webinar details how IT leaders, managers, developers, and builders can take advantage of these enhancements to improve products and solutions, including a focus on generative AI.
- Google Workspace for Education – Google has launched six new courses that enable educators and IT admins to impactfully use our free and paid Google Workspace for Education editions. These six courses consist of over 60 modules that each have specific learning objectives, interactive activities, and videos covering topics like:
- Miro – Check out Miro’s recap of product enhancements made in 2023 to increase collaboration and communication as well as a look ahead at 2024
Moving forward, this will be a regular feature in Catching Up on the Cloud, so be sure to keep an eye out for it!
Keep Up With the Cloud
As always, we welcome your ideas and appreciate your contributions to our cloud programs!
Interested in participating in one or more NET+ service evaluations? Or have feedback for other prospective services for the program? Complete this brief survey.
Don’t know where to start? Email cloud@internet2.edu.
Catching Up on the Cloud is a new feature that replaces the NET+ quarterly update to bring you all the latest Internet2 cloud updates. Whether you’re supporting the academic enterprise, research domain, or anything in between, these timely announcements and updates will help you with the best solutions for implementing cloud services at your institution.
About the Author(s)
Sean O’Brien leads Internet2’s NET+ cloud service program working with institutions on the collaborative development, evaluation, and management of cloud services for the research and education community. He has worked in a variety of roles in higher education and the private sector focusing on cloud enablement, institutional research, and project management.