In January, the OCRE project, a European funded research project, announced the award of a total of 473 OCRE IaaS+ framework agreements, easing access to commercial cloud services for researchers and research institutions in 40 European countries. The framework includes 27 different commercial cloud-based platforms that were sourced through the OCRE IaaS+ Tender concluded mid-2020 and have been made available through the national research and education networks (NRENs) and in the OCRE Cloud Catalogue.

In the course of this year, the NREN of the United Kingdom, Jisc, reported over £4.5 million in savings for their research community for the new contract period, thanks to the ease of access and discounted rates provided through OCRE. This is a clear indication of OCRE’s success in it’s goal of facilitating and accelerating the adoption of cloud tools and services by the European research community.

OCRE’s Monique Pellinkhof, a Procurement Specialist at GÉANT, and part of OCRE’s procurement team that ran the OCRE IaaS+ Tender said:

“It is a unique and an impressive outcome that the OCRE Framework hosts 473 cloud contracts across 40 countries throughout Europe, offering the European research and education institutions a wide range of cloud services and the opportunity to get the best value and fit solutions for their requirements.”

The impact of the OCRE Framework will go far beyond the end of the project itself, with the framework contracts in place for four years.

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You can also contact your local NREN for more information about how to use OCRE’s Cloud Framework