(note: I used to implement production grids, which included secure file sharing between institutions, and I work for a cloud provider. So I have some background experience in the theory and practice of file sharing in clouds, public and private).
I find it really interesting they concluded they had to build an alternative because they considered public clouds insecure and non private. Making such a decision has to take into account a very large amount of information (and they should be talking closely with potential vendors to get that information).
How do we know the university department will do a better job? It's been two years since they started the project and they have just begun procurement. They have a single vendor. How are they dealing with security and privacy- unlike a cloud company whose reputation is on the line, for whom this is an existential threat?
Running a 6Pbyte cloud is a non-trivial matter. There are large capital costs as well as operational costs (you have to buy and run lots of servers, employ 24/7 admins, etc). If you purchase a service, it's just operational (and you need far fewer admins).
Many US universities are already moving their IT departments to Amazon, Google, and Microsoft clouds. They conducted due diligence, and came to a conclusion. It's interesting the German universities came to a different conclusion- one I'm not sure included enough factual data.
I find it really interesting they concluded they had to build an alternative because they considered public clouds insecure and non private. Making such a decision has to take into account a very large amount of information (and they should be talking closely with potential vendors to get that information).
How do we know the university department will do a better job? It's been two years since they started the project and they have just begun procurement. They have a single vendor. How are they dealing with security and privacy- unlike a cloud company whose reputation is on the line, for whom this is an existential threat?
Running a 6Pbyte cloud is a non-trivial matter. There are large capital costs as well as operational costs (you have to buy and run lots of servers, employ 24/7 admins, etc). If you purchase a service, it's just operational (and you need far fewer admins).
Many US universities are already moving their IT departments to Amazon, Google, and Microsoft clouds. They conducted due diligence, and came to a conclusion. It's interesting the German universities came to a different conclusion- one I'm not sure included enough factual data.