The Digital Library of the Commons defines ‘commons’ as “a general term for shared resources in which each stakeholder has an equal interest”. The idea behind the Commons cloud credits business model is to provide unified access to a choice of “Commons-conformant” compute resources. This cloud credits model will offer individual investigators a choice of cloud providers so that the investigators themselves can select the best value for their individual research needs.
An evident barrier for procurement of cloud services is the contrast between outdated procurement practices and emerging standard practices in the business world. Cloud Service Brokers (CSB) act as an intermediary and aggregator of services provided by different cloud service providers and can reduce this barrier.
The UK Government G-Cloud is an initiative which aims to ease procurement by public sector bodies in departments of the United Kingdom Government. G-Cloud is part of a “cloud-first” policy encouraging the use of cloud services models over and above traditional computing services.
Cloud for Europe supports public sector cloud use as collaboration between public authorities and industry. The project identifies obstacles, finds innovative solutions and builds trust in European cloud computing.
Cloud for Europe uses pre-commercial procurement as an instrument for public sector innovation.