Sikt chosen as a provider for the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)
29. februar 2024
The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is a European initiative for open research, which has been working since 2016 to develop a network of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data and services to assist researchers. EOSC aims to provide seamless access to data and services and establish standards for exchange and integration.
The EU node will be the hub of EOSC
The first step in the operationalization of EOSC is the establishment of what the European Commission has called the EU node. This will be an enabling infrastructure that provides access to services in data management and storage, computing and analysis, and data transfer and exchange.
The European Commission's tender was divided into three parts, and Sikt is participating in the consortium that won the application services for data management. The other partners are:
- Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC)
- NORDUnet
- Sunet
- EGI Foundation
- CESNET
- Blue Safespring AB
- ownCloud GmbH
FileSender will be scaled up
Sikt's main contribution will be to manage and deliver FileSender as a service to EOSC. FileSender is a service for secure transfer of large files. The service has been developed through international collaboration in which Sikt has been a key player. Sikt already delivers FileSender to Norwegian research and higher education. Now the delivery will be scaled up to cover EOSC. This will provide economies of scale and broader application possibilities, including through new integrations.
Sikt is strongly represented in the EOSC collaboration
In addition to participating in the consortium that will deliver data management services, Sikt has also contributed, among other things, to the work on data integration between research disciplines and has been involved in leading a working group on sustainable financing.
Norwegian data archives and research services are intended to plug into the EOSC community. The fact that Sikt actively participates in the design and operationalization of EOSC allows us to influence the design with regard to Norwegian needs. Through participation, we will build expertise in delivering services to a larger European community. The ambition is for Norwegian researchers to have easy and seamless access to data and services at both the national and European levels.