Standards in SA7 Use Cases

:!: This is work in progress :!:

This document shortly discusses model use cases identified by SA7, summing up standards and interoperability approaches that might be applicable.

COMMUNITY CLOUDS

FILE STORAGE, SYNC AND SHARE

There ate multiple current use cases for OwnCloud (ACONET: ownCloud; SWITCH: SWITCHdrive, IaaS; CARNET: ownCloud; CESNET: ownCloud; SURFnet: OwnCloud; PSNC: cloud storage; GRNET: Pithos).

There are also use cases for BOX or Code42.

On standards: For simple cloud storage services, authentication is the most important standardization area. There is already experience with Shibboleth with underlying OAuth, for instance at CESNET. Access protocols are another area to consider – for instance WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning). In cases where the storage service also provides IaaS capabilities (creation/allocation of user's own dedicated resources), resource management standards such as CDMI (Cloud Data Management Interface) also apply!

IaaS

Many current contributors to SA7 provide their own IaaS services (SWITCH, UNINETT, HEAnet, GRNET, CESNET, SURFnet). There are also cooperating companies (CloudSigma).

On standards: Common to all cloud use cases, authentication standards are required. On top of solutions already mentioned (Shibboleth/OAuth), IaaS is also a good candidate for authentication by X.509.
Besides that, there are specific standards. Given that GÉANT is rooted in European academia, OCCI (Open Cloud Computing Interface) is most suitable for consideration.

Real Time Communication

RendezVous – a video conferencing service by Renater – is being developed in cooperation with SA7.

On standards: Various authentication standards apply, of course. Standards in other areas could apply if there were additional services (for instance to download recorded conversations)

Public Cloud

Collaboration Suites

Office 365

Many partners (CARNET, CESNET, GRNET, JISC, SURFnet) procure Office 365 services. CESNET, for instance, also plans to offer Office 365 as a hybrid solution.

On standards: Reportedly Office 365 is going to support Shibboleth in an upcoming update.