Cloud managers from European research and education networks and leading cloud suppliers came together for a range of training activities during a workshop organised by the EU-funded EaPConnect and GÉANT projects.

Participants met on 4-5 March in Nicosia, Cyprus, hosted by CyNet. The event was arranged to facilitate knowledge transfer between national research and education networks (NRENs) from EU and Eastern partner countries.

The GÉANT Cloud team in collaboration with the Learning and Development team ‘GLAD’ introduced the GÉANT Cloud portfolio, the range of available tools, and the skills and knowledge needed for making decisions about cloud services.

Participants had an opportunity to see and discuss the newest cloud technologies with experts from AWS, Microsoft and Google, and to understand their approaches to cloud implementation. The presence of these three providers offered great benefits to the NREN Cloud Managers. Presentations gave a high-level view of cloud usage for NRENs’ clients and provided both technical detail and examples of cloud implementation use-cases.

“The workshop provided a unique opportunity to learn about the internal DNA of giant cloud providers, and to understand their sales philosophy and service development strategy,” said Alexei Belotserkovsky, from BASNET Belarus.

The ability to share experience and knowledge across the NREN community allows them to rapidly learn how best to implement cloud services for research and education.

The EaPConnect project aims to create a regional research and education network in the EU’s Eastern partner countries namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The overall objective is to decrease the digital divide, improve intra-regional connectivity and facilitate the participation of local scientists, students and academics in global research and education collaborations.

Press release