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Subject:

Costs of the AthensDA service post-JISC funding

From:

Phil Leahy <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Phil Leahy <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 4 Sep 2006 12:58:32 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (124 lines)

[With apologies for cross-posting]

 

It has come to Eduserv's attention that some members of the HE library
community believe the AthensDA service will be offered by Eduserv at
either little or no cost to institutions after the JISC funding
terminates in 2008.  The basis for this seems to be the notion that as
users are authenticated locally using their institution's servers and
associated infrastructure, there is a little or no use made of Eduserv's
infrastructure, and therefore the costs will be lower.

 

I would like to point out that this view is based on an incomplete
understanding of how AthensDA works, and that Eduserv have made no
further announcement about the costs of either the classic Athens or
AthensDA service since the letter to institutions was sent in March 2006
(http://www.athensams.net/news/eduserv_aim_letter0303.pdf).

 

Although AthensDA users are authenticated locally, so there is no need
to create classic Athens accounts, AthensDA users use exactly the same
infrastructure as classic Athens users.  They connect seamlessly to
external service providers via our resilient, distributed infrastructure
of Athens authentication points.  AthensDA users are therefore
benefiting from the same service that has delivered 100% service
availability to classic Athens users since 1999.

 

Athens permission sets, usage statistics, the Home Domain Discovery
Service, server certificates and AthensDA software are all managed via
the Athens administrator interface.  In addition, the AthensDA software
itself needs to be supported, as FE and HE institutions are continuing
to implement AthensDA.

 

Therefore, it is entirely possible that the costs per AthensDA account
are likely to be the same unit cost as for classic Athens, but we can't
give any additional information at this stage.  We are working closely
with the JISC on the formation of the UK Access Management Federation,
but with the postponement of the launch of the Federation to January
2007, and the fact that the institutional preparedness audit has not yet
started, clearly no-one is in a position to understand the full
implications at the moment.

 

Eduserv do not want to commit to a pricing policy to be applied two
years hence which could turn out to be either unviable for the UK
academic sector, or uneconomic for Eduserv, when the landscape is still
somewhat uncertain.  What we have done is supplied a ceiling cost to
help institutions plan their budgets as best they can.  If you wanted to
calculate what the highest possible figure could be, a couple of options
occur:

 

* you could take your total student population (such as that reported to
HESA), and multiply that by 50p per person.  You might consider that an
unrealistic metric, but at least you would know that the total fees
could not exceed that figure, which some people may find useful.

* alternatively, you could use either locally-generated usage statistics
or Athens usage stats to see how many unique users logged into Athens in
a single calendar or academic year.  Using the 50p figure, this would
also give you an approximate ceiling figure you could use in your
budgets.

 

The JISC and Eduserv (through the MATU service) are working on a
business case template for institutions to use when considering whether
to implement Shibboleth(r) and other SAML-based authentication
mechanisms locally.  When this document is made available, each
institution will be able to make a balanced judgment on what their
choices are.

 

If you have any questions about any aspect of the Athens service, please
do not hesitate to contact me.


Regards

Phil Leahy
Product Manager

Eduserv Athens 
access management 

________________________________

[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 

tel: +44 (0)1225 474302
fax: +44 (0)1225 474332

http://www.eduserv.org.uk/athens/ <http://www.eduserv.org.uk/athens/>  

________________________________

Eduserv Athens is a service of Eduserv Technologies Limited 

 




Unless otherwise  agreed  expressly in writing by a senior manager of 
Eduserv, this communication is to be treated as confidential and the 
information in it may not be used or disclosed except for the purpose
for which it has been sent.
If you have reason to believe that you are not the intended recipient
of this communication, please contact the sender immediately.
No employee or agent is authorised to enter into any binding agreement
or contract on behalf of Eduserv or Eduserv Technologies Ltd., unless
that agreement is subsequently confirmed by the conclusion of a written
contract or the issue of a purchase order.

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