We are thrilled to announce the launch of the OCRE 2024 Framework, a significant initiative designed to transform the procurement of public cloud services for research and education institutions across the UK and Europe. Starting from 3rd February 2025, this new framework offers a comprehensive suite of cloud solutions tailored to the evolving needs of our academic and research communities.
What is the OCRE 2024 Framework?
The OCRE (Open Clouds for Research & Education) 2024 Framework is GÉANT’s latest cloud procurement initiative. It simplifies access to high-quality cloud solutions for research and education institutions while ensuring compliance and cost efficiency. Building on its previous success—having already saved the R&E community nearly £20 million in the UK alone—the 2024 iteration further reduces administrative barriers, enhances compliance, and offers better commercial terms, empowering institutions to accelerate digital transformation.
By streamlining procurement, OCRE 2024 enables UK institutions to enhance their research capabilities, improve collaboration, and drive innovation. This new framework is designed to operate for a period of five years, providing long-term support and stability for the research and education community while enhancing value for money.
Key Benefits for UK Institutions
- Enhanced Compliance and Security: Ensures adherence to UK and European laws and regulations, with a strong focus on sustainability, privacy, and security.
- Improved Commercial Terms: Enjoy better discounts, reduced egress costs, and local billing options, along with extensive access to complementary training and support resources.
- Comprehensive Cloud Services: Access a wide range of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions tailored to the needs of research and education.
- Support and Flexibility: Benefit from features such as free data ingress and egress (up to 15% of the monthly invoice, with some suppliers offering 100% discount on egress) guaranteed exit support, identity management, and peering connections with Jisc (Janet) and GÉANT.
Suppliers on the Framework in the UK
The OCRE 2024 framework features 17 suppliers across 10 cloud platforms, including:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Microsoft Azure
- Exoscale
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- IBM Cloud
- IONOS
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
Additionally, there are three Original Infrastructure Providers (OIPs) included in the framework:
- Cloudferro
- OVHcloud
- Setcor
Transitioning to the OCRE 2024 Framework
The OCRE 2024 Framework is now available to all UK research and education institutions, offering enhanced cloud services. By leveraging this framework, institutions can benefit from a pan-European initiative aimed at advancing research and education through state-of-the-art cloud technology.
For institutions already using the OCRE framework agreements, transitioning to the new OCRE 2024 framework is straightforward. They can either wait for their current Call-off contract to expire or mutually agree with the supplier to terminate it early and switch to a new Call-off contract under the OCRE 2024 framework.
Key Takeaways
The OCRE 2024 Framework empowers UK research and education institutions with streamlined access to top-tier cloud services, enhancing research capabilities, collaboration, and innovation. With improved compliance, better commercial terms, and comprehensive support, this initiative is set to significantly improve cloud technology use in academia.
For more detailed information about the OCRE 2024 Framework, please contact Cloudframework@jisc.ac.uk, or visit OCRE cloud framework – Jisc.
