Best Practices for Cloud Provider Connectivity for R&E Users

R&E Networks have been in the business of serving the needs of research and education for decades. A recent development is that more and more R&E Networks are required to support the overall business of research and education for their customers. As R&E institutes have felt the pressure from governments to become more efficient and cost-effective, their interest has turned to cloud solutions for scientific applications as well as back-end office systems. The use of clouds, both commercial and private, is increasing rapidly. Large scale connectivity with cloud providers is a rather new but important area, in which R&E Networks are trying to find their way to add value. Connectivity with commercial cloud providers nowadays is an important topic, and it is becoming crucial that advice to policy makers, decision makers and procurers is given so that over time it will lead to a coherent, scalable and increasingly cost-effective solution for connecting to cloud service providers.