Our mailer seems to have messed up all the formatting by putting the >s
in it making it a bit hard to read - here's another copy without the
commenting - hopefully it should be easier on the eye:
Andy
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Colleague
BENEFITS OF MORE OPENATHENS SUBSCRIPTIONS TO BE SHARED THROUGH LOWER
PRICES
It has become clear during the past month that, contrary to previous
expectations, the JISC will not be contracting with Eduserv for
provision of Shibboleth/Athens gateways for all universities and
colleges from August 2008. (These gateways enable members of a
university or college in the UK Access Management Federation to access
Athens-protected resources to which the institution subscribes: FAQs at
http://www.athensams.net/federations/openathens/faq provide further
details.) The non-negotiable offer we received from the JISC did not
approach the projected full economic cost of the service in 2008/2009 or
provide a sustainable basis for the future.
Gateway functionality remains an integral part of our OpenAthens
offering. As a result of the lack of a central contract for the
gateways we now expect there to be a larger number of OpenAthens
subscriptions. As a not-for-profit provider of shared services to
education and the public sector, Eduserv will seek to share the benefits
of the higher than anticipated subscriptions and will do this through a
reduction in the price of the service of up to 40% - or more, if take-up
is very high.
Benefits of OpenAthens
Implementing OpenAthens provides:
i) continuity of one password, single sign-on access
to e-resources from a not-for-profit organisation that has delivered the
Athens access and Identity management shared service since 1995
ii) access through a fully scaleable service that
currently handles over 10 million monthly authentications to 600
e-resource bundles from more than 200 data providers
iii) solutions that work with your infrastructure with
a choice of managed directory or local directory service options
iv) ability to access Athens protected resources from
Shibboleth implementations and vice versa
v) improving user experience through the customisable
MyAthens portal
vi) technical compliance enabling full participating
membership of the UK Access Management Federation on completion of its
formalities
vii) standards-compliant software, plus installation
support, for sites wishing to act as service providers for other members
of the UK Access Management Federation and/or other OpenAthens users
viii) access to the technology solutions that we create to
enable participation in other federations
ix) a supported solution that minimises the demands on
internal development and service staff.
Pricing
As shown below, we will reduce the price as increasing numbers of
universities and colleges commit to OpenAthens subscriptions.
JISC Band
1) Published price previously announced
2) New price in the light of anticipated higher take-up
3) Price if over 300 institutions
participate
4) Price if over 400 institutions participate
A
9,500
8,075
6,650
5,700
B
8,500
7,225
5,950
5,100
C
7,500
6,375
5,250
4,500
D
6,500
5,525
4,550
3,900
E
5,500
4,675
3,850
3,300
F
4,500
3,825
3,150
2,700
G
3,500
2,975
2,450
2,100
H
2,500
2,125
1,750
1,500
I
1,500
1,275
1,050
900
J
800
680
560
480
Positive feedback already suggests that take-up of OpenAthens is likely
to exceed our initial estimates, so we are now moving to the prices in
column 2. Prices in columns 3 or 4 (representing 30 and 40% discounts
respectively) w
ill become effective if participation reaches the
specified level by the end of May. (Given the current limited
availability of online resources in some colleges, we do not expect take
up significantly beyond 400 institutions at this stage but we will make
further reductions if we are proved wrong.) We will keep you updated on
subscription progress between now and the end of May. Institutions that
commit to a three-year subscription will secure the benefits of the
reduced prices for the entire period. For institutions who do not wish
to make such a commitment we guarantee that the price for 2009/2010 and
for 2010/2011 will in any case not exceed the 2007/2008 price previously
announced (column 1).
Please complete the attached Commitment Form as soon as possible.
Final cut off for forms will be Friday, 30th May 2008. We will use the
firm commitments that we have received at that stage to finalise pricing
in accordance with the thresholds specified, and will then incorporate
these reduced prices in the formal subscription documentation, which we
will send to you in June. Invoices will be raised at the end of June,
dated 1st August 2008 so that payment can come out of your 2008/9
budget. Please let us know if earlier payment is of help to you.
We are sending this email to our Chest and Athens contacts and to UCISA
and SCONUL lists: apologies for duplications. We have sought to answer
the most obvious FAQs at
http://www.athensams.net/federations/openathens/faq, but if you have
any further questions or would like further information please contact
us at [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> or by phone
on 01225 474380.
We are disappointed that we have been unable to reach agreement with
the JISC on central funding for a Gateways service. We are committed to
providing real sustainable benefit and shared value to the HE and FE
communities. We believe that the measures outlined above are now the
best way we can do this.
Keith Dixon
Access & Identity Management
Eduserv
advancing achievment
________________________________
[log in to unmask]
tel: +44 (0)1225 474380
fax: +44 (0)1225 474301
http://www.eduserv.org.uk
________________________________
|
