Thousands of higher education and industry leaders from every state in the nation will discuss best practices for moving their campus to cloud technologies to benefit teaching, learning and administering during the EDUCAUSE 2013 Annual Conference, held Oct. 15-18 in Anaheim, California. More than 40 conference sessions will provide advice and resources in understanding the challenges, solutions, and best strategies for communicating about a cloud-ready campus to college presidents, provosts, deans, and other campus leaders.

"One of the top issues discussed at the EDUCAUSE 2013 Annual Conference will be challenges and best practices in adopting cloud services," said Ted Dodds, chief information officer and vice president for information technologies, Cornell University. "Campus leaders remain burdened by contracting, legal, privacy, and other issues to successfully transition their campus and our community to the cloud. To help solve the challenges, the higher education community and the technology sector are working together to address the most commonly requested cloud topics, including: trust, identity, and the Internet2 NET+ initiative to successfully deploy high quality, cloud services."

Internet2 NET+ provides universities and colleges with access to a portfolio of cloud-based services specifically designed and tailored for the research and education community. At EDUCAUSE 2013, higher education technology leaders and industry members will discuss how these services are delivered over Internet2's high performance network.

"Leveraging the cloud successfully requires a lot more than the right technology," said Shelton Waggener, senior vice president, Internet2. "Success requires the development of a whole range of skills: the adoption of best practices; the implementation of important processes, like change management, procurement, risk contracts; and other high quality input to benefit higher education."

To research the cloud and NET+ sessions at EDUCAUSE 2013, visit http://bit.ly/EDU13_agenda. A few suggested sessions to attend include:

"IT as a Service and the Future of IT on Campus" on Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 10:30-11:20 am; find specifics athttp://bit.ly/IT_as_a_Service.

"Internet2 NET+ Service Provider CEO Panel" on Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 3:30-4:30 pm; locate details athttp://bit.ly/Internet2plusEDU13.

"Viewpoints on Community Cloud: CIO Perspectives on Migrating from Campus to Cloud Services with NET+"on Thursday, Oct. 17 from 1:30-2:20 pm; find more information at http://bit.ly/Migratingtothecloud

Background:

By applying the same open principles and community synergies that guided the creation of the Internet2 Network, the Internet2 NET+ initiative is creating a unified, integrated portfolio of cloud and trust solutions, blending both commercial services and community offerings. When a service has passed through the increasingly rigorous tests and focused service phases, the result is a collegially vetted, turnkey cloud solution that's simple to access and administer, cost-effective, and tailored to the unique needs of research and education.

Using the infrastructure facilities of the Internet2 Network, and the federated authentication and authorization services available through Internet2's InCommon, campus leaders have a dynamic, tailored technology toolkit to address their needs and challenges. For more details about Internet2 NET+, visit www.internet2.edu/netplus.

The EDUCAUSE 2013 conference hosts industry, associations and higher education institutions to discuss and share their newest technology innovations and identify opportunities to affect change across the college campus community. To learn more about EDUCAUSE's cloud resources, visit www.educause.edu/library/cloud-computing.

Numerous higher education executives and chief information officers advise and guide the creation of Internet2 programs. Some of these sources can be found at http://bit.ly/program_advisory_groups.