SURF STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2015-2018
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SURF STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2015–2018
SURF STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2015–2018
F
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
The collaborative efforts undertaken by the education and research institutions
within SURF are more important than ever. The education community is facing
major challenges. Students, lecturers and researchers alike need ICT resources to
help them improve the quality of education and research. The open environment
offered by the Internet, its scalability and having control over education and
research data are vital for the education and research community. Yet issues such
as security and privacy are becoming more urgent and more difficult to manage
and the scalability and security of the current Internet is under pressure. Suppliers
are offering free access to Internet services in exchange for user behaviour data
and because institutions are offering increasingly fewer of their own ICT
resources, they are becoming increasingly dependent on external cloud or other
service providers.
Institutions can respond to these challenges better, faster and more efficiently
if they join forces. As a result of their collaboration in SURF, the institutions are
in a stronger position to influence the rules of the game, whilst SURF is capable
of providing its own solutions should the market be unable to do so in a timely
manner. Moreover institutional collaboration is shaped by collectively building
and mutually sharing knowledge, co-developing ICT resources and purchasing
services from SURF through insourcing.
The institutions benefit from the excellent basis they have built up as a result
of their unique and long-standing collaboration with the SURF organisation.
The Dutch education and research e-infrastructure ranks among the best
in the world and has helped the Netherlands capture a top spot in the worldwide
ranking of knowledge economies. Because the financial resources of the govern-
ment and the education and research institutions are diminishing – while other
countries specifically continue to invest in the e-infrastructure – it will be an
additional challenge to retain our top ranking in the years ahead. This requires
not only solid collaboration on the part of the universities of applied sciences, the
research universities, university medical centres and research institutes but also
distinct choices and collaboration with both national and international partners.
The education and research institutions have set out their ICT innovation
objectives for the years ahead in this SURF Strategic Plan. The fact that significant
changes are being seen in ICT developments is evidenced by the previous
Strategic Plan for 2011-2014. At the time the plan was issued open and online
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 3
FOREWORD
education was still a relatively unknown phenomenon. In the intervening period
tens of thousands of students have taken online courses, which the Netherlands
education institutions too are offering. Free or open access to the results of
scientific research was merely in its infancy four years ago. The government
has meanwhile made its position clear and has affirmed that it is in favour of
open access.
The opportunities offered by cloud computing and the ever increasing autonomy
and freedom of choice it has brought to individual users gradually emerged four
years ago. It has now become a matter of course for them to decide not only on
what cloud or other applications they use but also to take their own devices with
them and ensuring they are online anywhere, anytime. Although a large number
of these developments had been anticipated in the previous Strategic Plan, they
have occurred more rapidly than deemed possible four years ago.
In implementing a Strategic Plan SURF continuously responds to current develop-
ments. When implementing the 2011-2014 innovation agenda in association with
the institutions SURF made significant headway in improving its services to the
education and research community. Thanks to investments in the e-infrastructure,
the latter served as an excellent basis for major breakthroughs in scientific
projects, such as the LOFAR telescope, the Large Hadron Collider at the European
Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), for top sector research and regional
research carried out in collaboration with small and medium-sized enterprises,
such as that of the universities of applied sciences in the automotive sector.
The HBO Kennisbank, the portal providing access to the research results
of universities of applied sciences, was one of the driving factors behind the
award of applied research funding by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific
Research (NWO). Eduroam, an education roaming service, and SURFconext
ensured secure, seamless access to connectivity, content and services, including
cloud services, for all users.
The institutions also made major strides in open and online education and digital
testing. SURF developed clauses for agreements with cloud service providers,
negotiated improved conditions of purchase, purchased a supercomputer and
deployed it on demand, integrated the BiG Grid results in the SURF e-infrastruc-
ture and continued to provide services. SURFaudit enables institutions to perform
an assessment of the protection, security and continuity of business data and
student and employee privacy.
Not all of the objectives set out in the 2011-2014 Strategic Plan were achieved.
For instance, the planned renewal of the national research information system
failed to materialise because the objective insufficiently met the needs and
4 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018
FOREWORD
requirements of the individual institutions. However, a standard for exchanging
information between such systems was developed by SURF.
With changes being the order of the day in the primary education and research
process, developments may take a different course than anticipated even in the
period 2015-2018. If in the next four years SURF is to offer Dutch research univer-
sities, universities of applied sciences, research institutes and university medical
centres ICT resources that meet the current needs of end users, SURF and the
institutions must be able to respond to the intense dynamics of ICT develop-
ments. While we have opted to focus on topical themes in this Strategic Plan,
SURF will remain mindful of new developments, both national and international,
when implementing the themes in programmes and projects.
In 2013 SURFsara became a full member of the SURF family. SURF now also
provides computing and data services as well as support. SURFnet, SURFmarket
and SURFsara jointly provide the national e-infrastructure for the education and
research community. In the Netherlands eScience Center (NLeSc), a joint initiative
launched by SURF and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
(NWO), ICT experts and scientists are developing new multidisciplinary research
tools to facilitate scientific breakthroughs and innovation. The SURFsara and
NLeSC Collaboratorium enables researchers from the scientific and business
communities to analyse and visualise their data in a high-tech environment.
This will enhance the SURF service offering for the period ahead, including
more integrated services.
This Strategic Plan was drawn up in close collaboration with the SURF member
institutions and other education and research stakeholders. The Dutch education
and research objectives defined in the i-strategie1 formed a significant source
of inspiration in determining the themes of the plan. To continue to undertake
successful activities with fewer financial resources SURF depends more than ever
on the contribution and commitment of institutions. SURF’s explicit aim therefore
is to respond to the differences in focus and the speed at which the institutions
can and wish to innovate under these various themes. In the light of the i-strategy
institutions have already indicated which themes they have prioritised for the
period ahead. Precisely because ICT developments in education and research are
occurring at such a rapid pace, it is worthwhile collaborating on ground-breaking
1
Under the
innovations with groups of precursors, giving institutions an opportunity to renew Coordination in the
their mutual collaboration and their collaborative efforts within SURF. SURF will Cloud project the
higher education
continue to act as the driving force behind the collaborative and innovation institutions developed
efforts in the years ahead. a joint i-strategy
between July 2012
and November 2013
On behalf of the Board of SURF SURF Management Team defining the shared
objectives for which
Paul Rullmann, Chairman Kees Neggers, Jan Bakker, cloud or alternative
Erwin Bleumink, Anwar Osseyran solutions will be sought.
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 5
CONTENT
1 5
Foreword 3
Introduction, mission Impactful
and ambition 7 research 39
Introduction 8 Context and target-group needs 40
2 6
SURF’s mission 12 Optimal support for research 41
2015 – 2018 Objective and themes 14 Innovation agenda 42
A federated Reliable and secure
e-infrastructure environment 45
for education
and research 17 Context and target-group needs 46
7
Trust, security and privacy 48
Context and target-group needs 18 Innovation agenda 49
E-infrastructure for top-level
research, excellent education
3
and high-quality innovation 20
Innovation agenda 22 Efficient and
sustainable business
processes 51
Optimally Context and target-group needs 52
managing data 27 Working efficiently and sustainably
8
as a result of ICT 54
Context and target-group needs 28 Innovation agenda 55
4
Sustainable data services 30
Innovation agenda 31
Aproach, organisation
and funding 57
Customised
education 33 Approach 58
Organisation and governance 60
Context and target-group needs 34 Funds 62
Facilitating personalised education 36
Innovation agenda 37
6 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018
1 SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
I
1 – INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
Introduction
SURF has been the driving force behind the innovation of ICT in
education and research in The Netherlands for more than a quarter of
a century. Dutch research universities, universities of applied sciences,
senior secondary vocational education institutions, research institutes
and the university medical centres (UMCs) work together within SURF
on developing ICT resources and innovations which they would not
have been able to undertake on their own.
U Unique in the world
The collaboration in SURF is unique
for a variety of reasons. Nowhere else
in the world do education and research
E Equally beneficial to the
Dutch economy
The collaborative efforts of the
education and research community
institutes make optimum use of ICT in ICT innovation also has an impact
in education and research and share on the Dutch economy. Thanks in
knowledge in this manner. They are part to SURF’s pioneering role, the
co-owners as well as customers and Netherlands e-infrastructure ranks
users. Hence, by definition innovation among the best in the world and has
within the SURF organisation is enabled ambitious and innovative
inspired by questions arising from research projects to be conducted
teaching and research practice, in the Netherlands, giving an impetus
based on which concrete services to the ICT market. The business
are developed and made available community, including the top sectors,
to all institutions. When all the national benefit from the state-of-the art
infrastructural ICT facilities for educa- e-infrastructure offered by SURF
tion and research were bundled into in addition to well-educated and
SURF2 in 2013, the education and ICT-literate personnel. Thanks in part
research institutions were given access to the SURFnet network, in 2013 the
to a complete, affordable high-tech Netherlands ranked fourth in the
ICT infrastructure (the e-infrastructure). worldwide Networked Readiness
2
This is in response
to the recommendation SURFmarket negotiates with market Index with the world’s largest
made by the ICTRegie
Task Force Towards
parties on behalf of member institu- Internet hub based in Amsterdam
a competitive tions, which means that end users due to SURFnet’s driving role.
infrastructure for
scientific research in
and institutions have access to services This has a strong pull, for instance,
the Netherlands, 2008. and content on favourable terms. on the establishment of data centres.3
8 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-20181 – INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
SURFsara provides the Netherlands Users want wireless, anywhere access
access to one of Europe’s major to the Internet and an integrated,
high-performance computing nodes. reliable range of e-infrastructure
C
facilities, such as a network, computing
and data services. The current WiFi
Challenges facilities are not equipped to cater
for the growing need for access, and
Especially in times such as these there it is a major challenge to integrate
is even greater urgency for collaboration e-infrastructure facilities from both
within SURF. Institutions are facing chal- a technical and organisational point
lenges which they can scarcely respond of view.
to on their own. At the same time senior
secondary vocational education institu-
tions, universities of applied sciences,
research universities and lecturers and
researchers have diverging interests SURF OFFERS
and priorities. Because institutions also
INSTITUTIONS A
need to deal with the increasingly com-
plex problems within SURF with fewer SOLID BASIS
funds, they must make choices and strike
FOR OFFERING
a balance between their mutual interests.
Only then will they continue to derive THE RIGHT
benefit from the advantages of collabo
EDUCATION AND
ration. And because ICT is increasingly
affecting the core education and RESEARCH
research processes, the areas in which
SOLUTIONS
SURF should take action and the areas
for which the institutions and the
market are responsible are moreover
required to be delineated for the
purpose of collaboration time and again.
The exponential growth of complex
Students, lecturers and researchers and often distributed data collections
are demanding. They themselves requires appropriate storage and
determine which ICT services they use. analysis facilities, and specialised
Whilst the dependence on ICT in high-performance computers.
education and research is growing, the This concerns a wide range of educa-
institutions’ control over the use of ICT tion and research data (public versus
is declining because they themselves privacy-sensitive), the accuracy of
3
Paper Nederland in
are providing fewer ICT resources and which is not always clear. The speed de hoogste versnelling,
are dependent on m arket parties. at which the flow of data is mounting SURF, June 2013.
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 91 – INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
requires smarter, improved and faster The quality of business operations has
processing, with the wheat separated a major impact on the quality of educa-
from the chaff. Ethical questions also tion and research. Not only should the
come into play: who owns the data and business processes be efficient, they
who is authorised to use the data and must be sustainable too. Ever higher
for what purposes? The rate at which requirements are set for computing
the volume of education and research centres and ICT equipment, for exam-
data is accumulating is outpacing the ple in the area of CO2 emissions.
rate at which the technology required
to process the data is being developed. At the same time ICT developments
Providers who want to profit from are occurring at lightning speed whilst
the value of data are increasingly institutions are repeatedly having to
attempting to take over that control. contend with the faster pace of new
If there is no intervention, control over challenges.4 To continue to respond
the data will be lost, and hence control to current and future issues, now more
over the primary education and than ever it is vital to continue to make
research processes. innovation investments and to maintain
service levels.
I
An open environment and, in turn, an
open Internet are essential for ensuring
an innovative research climate. The Innovativeness
education community is responsible for
safeguarding the security and privacy Technological advantage, SURF’s focus
of data and must at the same offer its on education and research and use of
users an open environment where they the available institutional expertise ena-
can collaborate with wide-ranging ble SURF to respond faster than the
parties across the globe. This is a market to problems arising at institu-
difficult task. News about security leaks tions and offer timely solutions accord-
and violations of privacy are the order ingly. SURF provides institutions a
of the day, and security too often strong basis for further expanding
conflicts with ease of use. the existing advantage in conjunction
with leading international partners and
A growing number of market parties — until such time as market parties do
are offering open and unbundled so — offers appropriate solutions to
course modules and support services, the education and research community.
such as student supervision and The institutions achieve economies of
4
For trends and examinations. This could bring about scale as a result of their collaboration
developments, see
also the 2012 Trend
a change in the role of the education in SURF, they do not need to develop
Report De bakens institutions, who will be forced to set and implement ICT solutions on their
verzetten published
by SURF’s Scientific
up their organisations differently. own and can jointly procure services
Technical Council. from major national and international
10 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018PAGINATITEL
suppliers on favourable terms.
Sharing knowledge and expertise
within the SURF organisation enables
the institutions to accelerate and
expand their innovativeness and
O Objectives and innovation
agenda
SURF also aims to assume a pioneering
role in the 2015-2018 period by offering
optimise the use of ICT resources innovative services to the education
in education and research. and research community and driving
the innovative use of ICT. In conjunc-
Education and research institutions tion with its member institutions SURF
and governments across the globe will implement an innovation agenda
acknowledge that the digital openness in line with the objectives set out in this
of scientific publications, research data, Strategic Plan.
learning materials, standards and
software has a favourable impact on These objectives can only be achieved
the efficiency and effectiveness of by working closely, not only within the
education and research, and is a major SURF organisation but also with market
driver of innovation. SURF promotes parties and international partners.
every facet of ‘open’ and supports The innovations will be driven by the
institutions in addressing the resulting requirements of and challenges faced
fundamental changes. by students, lecturers and researchers
alike as well as new technological
developments.
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 11S
1 – INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
SURF’s mission
SURF ensures that students, lecturers, researchers and employees
in education and research have access to the best possible ICT
resources on favourable terms for the purpose of top-level research
and talent development, including in national and international
collaborative efforts.
To that end SURF explores, innovates, etherlands Organisation for Applied
N
develops and operates an advanced, Scientific Research (TNO). From 2014,
federated e-infrastructure in conjunc- senior secondary vocational education
tion with the institutions. SURF (MBO) institutions may also become
promotes the optimum use of ICT in SURF members and use its services.
education and research and organises
demand aggregation, collaboration
and knowledge sharing for the benefit
of its member institutions.
T
SURF WORKS
TO GET THE MOST
Target group
OUT OF ICT IN
SURF serves students, lecturers,
EDUCATION AND
researchers, corporate and other staff
at the Dutch education and research RESEARCH
institutions. These include research
universities, universities of applied
sciences, university medical centres
and related institutions,
such as the National Library of the SURF supports the collaborative
Netherlands [Koninklijke Bibliotheek], efforts undertaken by education and
the Royal Netherlands Academy for research institutions with other sectors,
Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the such as the healthcare sector and the
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific business community. Primary and
Research (NWO), Naturalis Biodiversity secondary schools also have indirect
Center, the University of Humanistic access to SURF’s services. This simpli-
Studies, the Police Academy, the fies collaboration among the education
National Institute for Public Health sectors while achieving economies of
and the Environment (RIVM) and the scale.
12 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-20181 – INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
SURFnet, SURFmarket, SURFsara
and the Netherlands eScience Center
SURF has three operating companies, who
jointly implement SURF’s mission and serve users.
SURFnet is responsible for connecting users,
the ICT facilities and for creating ICT solutions
to enable researchers, lecturers and students to
collaborate easily and effectively. SURFmarket
effects favourable agreements for the use of ICT
products and services and subsequently facilitates
the use, financial processing and access to the
relevant software, cloud services and content.
SURFsara offers high-performance computing,
data storage and visualisation for scientific
purposes. The Netherlands eScience Center,
a SURF and NWO collaborative effort, supports
and b
olsters multidisciplinary, data-intensive,
ICT-facilitated scientific research.
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 13O
1 – INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
Objective and themes
2015-2018
Remaining a top-ranking knowledge economy is a prerequisite
for economic growth and for ensuring that Dutch society
maintains its current level of prosperity. Education and research
are the key pillars that underpin the knowledge economy.
Education delivers the skills required by the knowledge economy
while research supplies the latter with new insights and techniques.
If the Netherlands is to actually education and research community
continue to conduct ground-breaking to utilise the opportunities offered
research and invest in talent develop- by ICT to the best possible extent to
ment to resolve societal issues and enhance the quality of the education
provided and the research conducted.
SURF’s products and services, its
leading role at the national and inter
national level and the expertise jointly
INSPIRING acquired in SURF by the institutions in
INSTITUTIONS adopting ICT in education and research
ensure a strong basis.
TO INNOVATE
FASTER SURF ensures that students, lecturers,
researchers and employees can opti-
WITH ICT mally utilise the opportunities offered
by ICT, thereby contributing to study
success and the performance of top-
level research. SURF therefore gives
promote economic activity, advanced an impetus to the development and
ICT resources must be made available implementation of new and current
to the education and research commu- technologies and their innovative use
nity. Business and industry require in education and research. SURF is
qualified, ICT-proficient employees. consequently responding, to a greater
The collaborative efforts and the degree than in the past, to the differ-
co-investments in a state-of-the-art ences in focus and speed at which the
e-infrastructure enable the Dutch institutions can and wish to innovate
14 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-20181 – INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
so that they can maintain their own nvironment, SURF aims to implement
e
pace and priorities, and the education the innovation agenda in conjunction
and research community as a whole with its member institutions in the
can innovate faster with the aid of ICT. years ahead.
To achieve this objective and The innovation agenda is divided
in response to changes in the into six themes:
Themes
5 A reliable and secure environment
3 4
Customised Impactful
education 2 Optimally research
managing data
1 A federated e-infrastructure
(All as a service, one-stop-shop)
SURF services
Education network – storage – computing – visualisation Market
AAI – collaboration infrastructure
6 Efficient and sustainable business processes
1 – A federated e-infrastructure 5 – A reliable and secure
for education and research environment
2 – Optimally managing data 6 – Efficient and sustainable
3 – Customised education business processes
4 – Impactful research
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 151 – INTRODUCTION, MISSION AND AMBITION
SURF has various roles, that of an This Strategic Plan sets out the direc-
explorer, developer/supplier, intermedi- tion for institutional collaboration
ary and driver of innovation and knowl- within SURF for the period 2015-2018.
edge sharing. The institutions are During this period, in conjunction with
responsible for conducting research, the institutions each year the themes
providing education and disseminating set out in the Strategic Plan will be
knowledge to society. SURF facilitates transposed into annual plans with
institutions in performing their tasks concrete results. Recent developments
to the best possible extent. SURF’s role will be taken into account when imple-
in the themes of customised education, menting the annual plans. The themes
impactful research and efficient and in the Strategic Plan and the implemen-
sustainable business processes is tation of the annual plans will in any
mainly that of an explorer who organ- event be evaluated every two years
ises the collective building and sharing together with the member institutions.
of knowledge. In order to achieve the Where necessary, themes may be given
objectives defined under these three a different emphasis or may even be
themes, SURF depends on the efforts scrapped and new themes added.
undertaken by the institutions and the
pace at which they carry these out.
Reading guide
SURF’s ambition for the period
2015-2018 has been divided into
six themes, details of which are
provided in the following sec-
tions. Separate objectives have
been formulated and a separate
innovation agenda drawn up for
each theme. Together they
constitute SURF’s innovation
agenda. Section 8 describes
SURF’s approach, organisation
and the available resources.
16 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018SECTION 2 2 A FEDERATED E-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
C
2 – A FEDERATED E-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Context and
target-group needs
ICT forms an integral part of education and research — every
student, lecturer or researcher uses ICT resources for their work
or study programme.
As a result of co-investments the sector number of researchers make use of
has access to one of the world’s fastest, the most advanced facilities for their
most advanced and reliable e-infra- data-intensive research. The current
structure networks, sustainable data solutions have often been inspired by
storage facilities, state-of-the-art their specific needs. A large group of
computing facilities, powerful software researchers still scarcely make use of
and visualisation tools, and e-Science the advanced facilities offered by the
and professional support which is e-infrastructure. The importance of
continuously adapted in line with user these facilities is growing as a result
needs and new ICT developments. of the data explosion. There are also
large numbers of users (students and
The e-infrastructure is designed to help lecturers) of all forms of online educa-
users in the education and research tion for whom use of ICT and the
community and ICT specialists cope e-infrastructure offers new opportuni-
with the tremendous challenges ties. The e-infrastructure additionally
brought about by the current data functions as a testbed where suppliers
explosion, i.e. (sustainable) storage, and researchers can test new technolo-
transmission, processing, analysis and gies or demonstrate a proof-of-
the visualisation of huge volumes of concept. It is essential that the various
potentially complex and highly sensi- user groups can find their way to the
tive data, making data accessible and e-infrastructure. User-friendliness,
sharing data for reuse. The right combi- support, low-threshold access and
nation of hardware, software, applica- customised tools take precedence.
tions and support is vital for ensuring
the resources available within the The e-infrastructure offers amazing
e-infrastructure are actually utilised as and unforeseen applications for educa-
efficiently and effectively as possible. tion and research purposes. The light
paths, which were initially developed
The e-infrastructure target group is to enable researchers to process huge
broad and diverse. A relatively small flows of data, were soon widely
18 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-20182 – A FEDERATED E-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
adopted by universities of applied but also in respect of a standard access
sciences to connect their locations procedure. If students, lecturers and
with each other. researchers increasingly collaborate
supra-institutionally, new solutions and
Students, lecturers and researchers organisational formats must be sought
collaborate with each other in dynamic to support institutions in serving their
work groups as well as with healthcare users in dynamic working groups.
institutions, small and medium-sized Particularly the collaboration among
enterprises, the public authorities and research universities and universities
businesses. This means that partners of applied sciences with small and
outside the education and research medium-sized enterprises and the
community must also be able to access business community, in pre-competitive
the e-infrastructure. From time to time research for instance, could give the
users are served directly, for instance innovativeness of the Netherlands a
through supercomputer facilities, substantial impetus.
and on other occasions they are served
at group level, such as national and
international collaborative efforts in
which the business community may
also be involved. Access to the infra- A NEW,
structure is frequently provided by the
SCALABLE AND
institution to which users are attached.
SECURE
Current and prospective users require
INTERNET
an e-infrastructure in which links with
and access to online teaching materials,
data, instruments and computing
power are organised conveniently and
reliably, at the campus or externally, There is a growing need for scalability
from any desired device, enabling and for enhancing the security of the
virtual, project-based multidisciplinary current Internet. A renewed Internet
collaborative ventures to perform is vital for resolving the challenges
research, both nationally and inter currently anticipated. Due to its exten-
nationally. For both education and sive knowledge of both network tech-
research an e-infrastructure is a nology and security, SURF is eminently
prerequisite for ensuring seamless, capable of building a new, scalable
supra-institutional collaboration. and secure Internet in association with
market parties and international part-
New forms of collaboration, online ners.
education and the changing role of the
institutions need to be coordinated not
only in respect of the e-infrastructure
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 19E
2 – A FEDERATED E-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
E-infrastructure for
top-level research, excellent
education and high-quality
innovation
SURF’s ambition is to operate, continue to develop
and expand a top-level federated infrastructure.
as an integrated service so that they
M
This world-leading e-infrastructure in
the Netherlands consists of various
components supplied, where possible,
can be procured easily and flexibly and
Multifunctional
The e-infrastructure is suitable for
various types of users and use, ranging
from individual users with modest
used for the purpose of collaborating requirements, users with highly specific
nationally and internationally. The requirements to complex international
e-infrastructure must facilitate the most project teams who wish to share huge
advanced and data-intensive research volumes of data, and from basic web
programmes in which the Netherlands surfing to real-time remote visualis-
participates. ation. The e-infrastructure was
designed not only for students, lectur-
Driven by the needs and ambitions ers and researchers, but institutions
of precursor education and research and faculties equally benefit from
institutions and the technological components, such as academic analyt-
possibilities — in conjunction with ics, learning analytics, online tests and
researchers, international partners and open and online teaching materials.
I
the business community or otherwise
— SURF will implement innovative
e-infrastructure services that contrib- Integrated federated services
ute to high-quality research, education
and innovation in the Netherlands’ For ease of use and an end-to-end
knowledge economy. experience, integrated services are
offered as far as possible but can also
be purchased separately. SURF stands
for a federated approach, which means
20 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018that not only are SURF’s high-quality advantage for all users and will
services offered but also quality ser- increase their chances of being
vices by institutions, international sister successful, ranging from the basic
organisations and commercial provid- user with few requirements who
ers. All the available ICT facilities can wants user-friendliness rather than
therefore be utilised by the Dutch fine-tuned customised work, to the
education and research community top-level researcher conducting
enabling it to distinguish itself from data-intensive research who has
other countries. highly specific requirements.
S
Secure, robust and reliable
The e-infrastructure is secure, robust,
reliable, clear-cut, has a low threshold
and can be used flexibly. The infrastruc-
S State-of-the-art
The e-infrastructure can be further
developed quickly or enriched with
new services and options. This means
ture services focus on accessibility and that SURF can respond to end user
user-friendliness. User support forms needs in a short space of time.
an integral part of the e-infrastructure. Investments must result in a fast
E
time-to-market for user services.
Efficient and effective
SURF aims to continue to utilise the
economies of scale arising from collab-
oration and to enhance the effective-
ness of the e-infrastructure by improv-
ing the mutual interfaces and rapidly
implementing new facilities. Successful
implementation means a competitive
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 21I
2 – A FEDERATED E-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Innovation agenda
SURF has designed the various compo- Authentication and Authorisation
nents of the e-infrastructure at top Infrastructure (AAI)
level as follows: computing, the storage A renewed, high-quality AAI is required
of scientific data, analysis services and to enable end users to access the
visualisation resources from SURFsara, various services and data easily and
the SURFnet network and the SURF- reliably, through both the web and
conext collaboration infrastructure, apps. The SURF member institutions’
the SURFsara and SURFnet community existing authentication and identifica-
cloud, the SURFmarket.nl ICT market- tion services will be integrated, where
place for institutions and the SURF- feasible and relevant, such as the
spot.nl webshop for end users (both healthcare sector UZI pass (Unique
are offered by SURFmarket) where Healthcare Provider Identification
software, content and cloud services card). Commercial parties and the
licences can be purchased, and support government (eID) are similarly working
from the Netherlands eScience Center on identity management. SURF closely
(in association with NWO). Each of monitors these developments. To
these components require further ensure secure and reliable collaboration
development. SURF ensures that they with national and international parties
are provided to end users as combined, both within and outside the education
integrated services. and research community, global
authentication and authorisation must
In addition to continuing its existing be obtained for collaborative partners.
services, SURF carries out the following
innovation activities: Data storage
1
Ever more data is becoming available
due to digitisation, sensors and the
1 SURF is implementing an Internet. Aside from specific data sets
innovative, sustainable for research groups, research data are
e-infrastructure made accessible (open access) for use,
sharing and enrichment by various
To that end SURF is expanding the research groups. This has created a
following components based on a growing need for secure and reliable
progressive vision for the future jointly data storage and access to data.
developed with the education and The requirements specified by users
research institutions. are subject to legal, NWO or EU
requirements. By setting up a national,
22 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018f ederated data centre jointly with the Visualisation tools
institutions, which utilises the available Big data, huge volumes of unstructured
institutional resources, SURF complies data and the complexity of models
with the specific requirements for data require new analysis and interpretation
centre facilities established by the tools. The innovation of visualisation
education and research community. services will enable users to visualise
their research and other data irrespec-
Computing facilities tive of the time and place, based on
Due to the surging demand for real-time or existing data. Users can
capacity for simulation purposes and perform a visualisation task in the
to enable real-time data processing, closest possible proximity to research
the federated computing facilities are or other data. Data will consequently
required to be expanded. In addition always be stored in a single location,
to standard renewal based on techno- which is efficient and sustainable
logical developments, this means that without posing privacy risks.
new techniques must be integrated,
such as accelerators and many-core Network infrastructure
processors. In the light of the trend for Not only will SURFnet8, the next-
ever more specialised supercomputers, generation network infrastructure,
it is not possible to offer these facilities enable higher speeds (up to 400 Gbit/s
to all disciplines only at the national and potentially 1Tbit/s) for exacting
level. International collaboration in this end users, it also means that the net-
area is vital. work can be more flexibly deployed.
The fixed and wireless network (such
as WiFi, 3G, 4G and in the future 5G)
will be seamlessly integrated with the
aid of eduroam.
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 232 – A FEDERATED E-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Lecturers and researchers will therefore
have a reliable, guaranteed connection
2
and access to their critical applications.
SURFnet8 is expanding the use of open
technologies and virtualisation con-
2 SURF provides the accessible
e-infrastructure as a service
The existing and tested e-infrastructure
components are made available by
cepts to facilitate the integration of SURF as a basic, transparent and
the network functionality into the low-threshold service for all. Even
end-to-end e-infrastructure. Specific though these services are separate
users, such as distributed sensor (distributed) background components,
networks or applications with extreme they are viewed as one whole by users.
latency requirements are optimally SURF is building a central, uniform,
supported. no-threshold port enabling users to
access all e-infrastructure components
Collaboration infrastructure with a minimum number of operations.
The concept of the Dutch SURFconext
collaboration infrastructure has been State-of-the-art
adopted in numerous countries. The infrastructure services are state-of-
This has brought about new needs the-art and can be further developed
and requirements which, in turn, will quickly or enriched with new services
enhance education and research in and options. This means that SURF
the Netherlands. There is a strong need can respond to end user needs in a
for support for worldwide federated short space of time. Investments
services. In this case research universi- should result in a fast time-to-market
ties or other education and research for services to users.
network organisations are offering their
services to other institutions. Further- Collaborations
more, the integration of services sup- The e-infrastructure has been designed
plied by the market will need to be such that collaborations can be set
expanded to ensure SURF remains in up quickly and easily, for both longer
tune with the manner in which users periods or on an ad hoc basis, not only
are accustomed to working with ICT. with colleagues in the Dutch education
and research community but also with
the business community, the healthcare
sector and international partners. Users
can use resources simultaneously, view
results real-time and share data easily.
24 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-20182 – A FEDERATED E-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Key features of the federated
e-infrastructure:
- flexible;
- transparent;
- integrated;
- end-to-end;
- scalable (few or numerous users);
- on-demand (directly when needed);
- easy access;
- reliable (secure, available, trusted);
- sustainable;
- value for money.
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 252 – A FEDERATED E-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Technology partner and Community cloud
knowledge bank Students, lectures and employees
SURF has positioned itself both widely use public cloud services and
nationally and internationally as expect to have anytime, anywhere
a trailblazer and technology partner open access to research results and
on all fronts of the e-infrastructure. teaching materials on any device.
This similarly applies to governance,
organisation, coordination and
financing. SURF serves not only as
a developer and service provider but
also as the knowledge bank for the ANY TIME,
national e-infrastructure, which users
ANY PLACE, ANY
and institutions can approach for
knowledge and expertise. DEVICE
One-stop-shop
It is clear to users where they can find
e-infrastructure products and services.
SURF ensures that users can purchase However, users must be able to rely on
and set up services (themselves, auto- certain education and research services
matically, through SURF or otherwise) being managed and offered within the
based on a low-threshold, easy and confinement of a secure environment.
transparent process. This applies to On top of that a growing number of
e-infrastructure-based services as well institutions want to scrap their own
as services made available through ICT resources and preferably purchase
the e-infrastructure. SURF arranges them from a trusted environment.
settlement of the charges according The e-infrastructure makes available
to usage in a manner that is conven- such an environment in a community
ient, transparent and uniform for the cloud format, offering community
institution, the end user as well as cloud services tailored specifically to
external parties. New finance and the education and research community.
accounting methods are being SURF develops such services in collab-
explored to enable users to use the oration with (a group of) institutions
various services without being bur- and subsequently provides these to a
dened by complicated administrative federated community cloud in which
procedures routed through different the capacity of the institutions, SURF
departments. Service providers can and market parties has been bundled.
offer an integrated service containing
different components as one whole
package.
26 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-20183 SECTION 3 OPTIMALLY MANAGING DATA
C
3 – OPTIMALLY MANAGING DATA
Context and
target-group needs
The volume and complexity of data used by the education and
research community has been growing explosively for quite some
time. It is becoming a far greater challenge, however, to store the
data and create metadata in a such way that they can still be used.
Moreover the volume of data is outpacing the rate at which the
technology required to process the data is being developed.
In the field of education the large-scale Researchers have extensive, complex,
use of digital learning environments, fast-growing and often distributed
the wide range of online courses and data collections, which they themselves
digital teaching materials offered and have generated or which have origi-
online testing have created ever- nated from other research groups, the
expanding data collections. Apart from world over. Ever more data originating
direct use ever more options are being from various types of sensors and
created for analysing students’ study mobile devices are available real-time,
behaviour (learning analytics). Analysis which means they must processed
of the above data can provide students and made available real-time on a wide
and lecturers real-time insight into range of devices (including mobile
learning styles, study progress and devices).
study success. It offers lecturers an
opportunity to intervene and personal- The data explosion has a vast impact
ise the study programme and academic on education and research. Grant
student counselling. The volume of providers, among them Netherlands
data also offers insight into the quality Organisation for Scientific Research
of study programmes/curricula and (NWO), the Netherlands Organisation
generates management information for Health Research and Development
for institutions (academic analytics). (ZonMw), the European Commission
It is vital to safeguard student privacy, plus the institutions themselves are
particularly in cases where a personal stipulating ever more requirements
learning file is taken from one institu- for collecting, saving, analysing, storing,
tion to another. providing secure access to and
documenting research data with
which researchers must comply
28 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-20183 – OPTIMALLY MANAGING DATA
(data curation). Institutions must of the data and the quality of the
comply with the statutory retention research (reusable) 5. Ready availability
periods for academic results, the nature and quick (real-time) analyses of big
of which is becoming increasingly data are becoming ever more impor-
diverse, including HD video material. tant, and parties must be able to follow
the analyses performed on data. Similar
Data-driven research affects all disci- requirements apply to education data.
plines and alters the way in which To enable data to be analysed over a
scientific research is conducted. It gives longer period of time and to protect
rise to new research questions, acceler- data from unauthorised access, data
ates collaboration across disciplinary must be stored in a sustainable manner
and institutional boundaries and conse- long-term and continue to be certifia-
quently spurs scientific breakthroughs. bly accessible in a trusted environment
But secure access must be ensured (trusted digital repositories). Metadata
and integrity safeguarded. In each field standards and agreements have a key
of study researchers frequently have role in data curation.
highly specific and divergent require-
ments for data storage and data analy-
ses which require divergent approaches
and solutions. For example, privacy
must be safeguarded when conducting RESEARCHERS IN
research on human subjects, where
DIFFERENT FIELDS
pseudonymisation and anonymisation
facilities are required. Researchers also OFTEN HAVE HIGHLY
want to make their own choices on
SPECIFIC AND
how they wish to manage and organise
data. Standards are important in ensur- DIVERGENT
ing data remain available and are
REQUIREMENTS FOR
reusable for researchers across various
disciplines. DATA STORAGE AND
DATA ANALYSIS
In order to share open or other
research data, the data must be filed
in an accessible location and manner
(accessible); the data must be compre-
hensible for the parties wanting to view
it (intelligible); the data should be able Proper data management and data
to be assessed in terms of quality and services for research and education
reliability (assessible) and other institutions as well as research commu- 5
Science as an
open enterprise;
researchers must be able to reuse the nities are vital for organising the above. Royal Society (UK),
data, which will help increase the value Data must be managed to avoid the summary report, p. 3.
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 293 – OPTIMALLY MANAGING DATA
ever-expanding volume of data becom- eScience software can data be trans-
ing unmanageable and hence largely formed into knowledge, can other
unusable, and to avoid that the value parties derive benefit from data, can
of the data generated is limited to the value/economic value be created
original research or education environ- and can the Netherlands’ competitive
ment. Data services are designed to position in education and research be
accommodate the new methods for sustained and bolstered internationally.
generating, processing and using data Good data stewardship ensures that
real-time or otherwise. the duty of care for the research data is
organised in a cost-efficient and relia-
Only by ensuring good data manage- ble manner for various fields of science.
S
ment, good analysis methods and good
Sustainable data services
SURF provides and organises a range ingly being used for research purposes,
of data services for the benefit of the coordination between the research
education and research community, data and ICT infrastructures is becom-
ranging from secure, sustainable data ing ever more important in the relevant
storage and data analysis to complete field. The Netherlands eScience Center
data management processes and, in develops generic techniques, algo-
specific cases, support to data access. rithms, models and concepts mainly for
SURF helps lecturers and researchers data-intensive research. Through the
obtain quicker access to education and Research Data Alliance SURF coordi-
research data and real-time or other nates international agreements relating
analysis methods, to work with big to data management.
data files easily and to comply with the
requirements for collecting, analysing,
storing, making accessible and docu-
menting education and research data
as well as patient-related data in the
case of UMCs. Because data derived
from healthcare processes are increas-
30 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018I
Innovation agenda
1
1 SURF provides a platform
designed for the optimal use of
data in education and research
–– by placing data management and
efforts and national and interna-
tional institutes;
–– by building and collating data
management and data processing
knowledge nationally and interna-
data stewardship on the agenda, tionally;
and building and sharing knowl- –– by ensuring pre-conditions for
edge of education and research sharing education data between
data; various teaching applications,
–– by bringing together data curation among other things by applying
and big data analytics initiatives, open or alternative standards;
expertise, innovations and services –– by supporting the development of
from various user communities, frameworks for data management
service providers, collaborative plans and data management and
SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 313 – OPTIMALLY MANAGING DATA
data stewardship tools; types of sensors and devices that
–– by identifying the functional must be processed and available
requirements for a Collaborative real-time on a wide range of
Data Infrastructure (CDI6), as a devices (including mobile devices).
3
component of the national/interna-
tional e-infrastructure in associa-
tion with the institutions and 3 SURF supports the process for
parties, such as the Data Archiving the sustainable storage of
and Networked Services (DANS), research and education data
3TU.Datacentrum, the Dutch
Techcentre for Life Sciences –– by developing and implementing
(DTLS), EUDAT, research groups data storage business models in
and research communities. association with the various stake-
2
holders (funding agencies such as
NWO, the Ministry of Education,
2 SURF is organising data life Culture and Science, the Royal
cycle support for the education Netherlands Academy of Arts and
and research community Sciences (KNAW), the European
Commission and user communities,
–– by initiating and facilitating both institutions and the business
customised and federated services community) and making available
for the management and process- data.
ing of distributed and other educa-
tion and research data. We carry
this out in collaboration with
national and international provid-
ers, lecturers and researchers;
–– by ensuring and promoting
data-integrity and protecting
privacy and trust;
–– by further developing data analyt-
ics, including big data, and visualis-
ation services and tools for the
analysis and processing of new
data types, formats and sources;
–– through testbeds for the develop-
6
Riding the wave:
How Europe can gain ment of innovative services cater-
from the rising tide
of scientific data.
ing to new types of real-time or
Final report from the existing data derived from different
High Level Expert
Group on Scientific
Data, October 2010.
32 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-20184 SECTION 4 CUSTOMISED EDUCATION
C
4 – CUSTOMISED EDUCATION
Context and
target-group needs
The education sector must cope with an increasingly diverse
student population. Apart from full-time students, there are
students who combine work with studying and those who embark
on a degree programme at an older age. There are international
students and students who are not attached to a single education
institution. All of these students have different learning needs.
They are not optimally served by a one-size-fits-all study
programme offering.
Lecturers and students are demanding learning environment and to open
when it comes to the quality of educa- teaching material. The challenge facing
tion and the corresponding ICT envi- institutions is that they must offer
ronment. They take their own devices education that fosters students’ moti-
with them and expect to have any- vation to the best possible extent and
where, anytime wireless access to their ensures that students’ progress can be
effectively monitored.
The availability of high-quality educa-
tion is no longer offered within the
THE AVAILABILITY confines of an education institution.
OF HIGH-QUALITY The advent of (partially free) open and
online education, such as open educa-
EDUCATION IS tion resources and massive open online
NO LONGER courses (MOOCs) followed en masse
by students the world over, has spurred
OFFERED WITHIN a reorientation of the position of the
THE CONFINES institutions and the role of the lecturer
in the teaching process.
OF AN
EDUCATION These developments also afford the
institutions new opportunities to
INSTITUTION enhance the quality, efficiency and
accessibility of education. ICT can
34 SURF Strategic Plan for 2015-2018enrich student-lecturer interaction. The enables study progress to be super-
place and time-independent availability vised real-time. It provides insight into
of a broad and varied range of open or the quality of the teaching materials
other teaching materials offers more used, the use of the digital learning and
opportunities to cater better for the working environment and the quality of
divergent learning needs and styles test items. Large-scale digital test item
of a larger and more diverse group of databases facilitate the frequent use of
students, including international stu- formative tests to encourage continued
dents. The deployment of ICT increases learning. The results of these tests offer
student mobility and creates more time lecturers and students greater insight
for interaction and discussion. The into study progress and promptly
labour market moreover has a demand identify the existing level of knowledge
for ICT-proficient employees. In order or distinct knowledge gaps. It offers a
to capitalise on the benefits of ICT, user-friendly learning environment with
institutions must adapt their culture, the freedom to choose applications
approach and processes. and services to suit individual student
and lecturer needs and requirements.
Learning analytics offers insight into
the divergent learning styles, facilitates
the support of learning styles and
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