The OCRE Cloud Framework was created by the Open Clouds for Research Environments (OCRE) project consortium, which is led by GÉANT and forms part of the wider OCRE project. It is an OJEU-compliant procurement framework, enabling our members and customers to buy public cloud more easily and cost-effectively. Available under the framework are a wide range of cloud platforms, resources, and tools, which give our members more choices of ways to deliver their services. The available platforms include AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM, Oracle, and others.
Two years on from its launch in 2021, the OCRE cloud framework has delivered substantial discounts to our members and customers. The projected saving to those already using the framework in the Jisc community is nearly £10M over the 4-year lifetime of the framework. To the research community, the OCRE project has provided researchers with access to powerful tools to carry out computational work, boosting innovation with significantly reduced legal, financial, and technical barriers. The ‘OCRE’s experience through researchers’ eyes’ policy brief at https://zenodo.org/record/7503233#.Y9zZ5XbP02z provides insight into the impact of OCRE on research work, challenges, and lessons learned and makes some recommendations on how to improve access to cloud and EO services for the scientific community in Europe.
For more information on the OCRE Cloud Framework please contact the team at Jisc: cloudframework@jisc.ac.uk
