Just a question for a Friday evening ...... So has anyone worked out ~~exactly~~ what this is supposed to mean for EU/UK (or just about any non US) customer - presumably it is this ~other bit of the planet~ that Greg means by "because that will be required in some regions?"

Peter

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Peter Harrison FHEA MInstLM 
Centre of Andragogy and Academic Skills 
Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL
T: + 44 (0)1234 7584097 | E: [log in to unmask] | W: www.cranfield.ac.uk



> On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 6:04 PM, Vivek Ramgopal < 
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> I'm posting this for Greg Ritter from our product management team, as 
>> for some reason his reply has not gone through:
>> 
>> Hi BLKBRD-L folks!
>> 
>> There's definitely some confusion floating about around Learn SaaS & 
>> Ultra, so I thought I would stick my head in while I'm still at 
>> BbWorld and try to clear some of it up.
>> 
>> I think the confusion may stem from the fact that Blackboard has 
>> discussed options to bring Learn SaaS and Ultra to Bb-managed data 
>> centers and perhaps even customer's own data centers. However, That 
>> does not mean that Ultra is coming to self-hosted or Managed Hosted 
>> implementations as you know them today.
>> 
>> Ultra must sit on top of a modern cloud computing architecture (e.g. 
>> AWS or OpenStack or potentially other cloud providers in the future). 
>> The Learn
>> 9.1 Managed Hosting deployment option available today does not use 
>> that sort of cloud architecture. Nor do self-hosted Learn 9.1 
>> implementations use that sort of cloud architecture. So it is not 
>> possible to bring Ultra to the self-hosted or Managed Hosting 
>> implementations as you know them today.
>> 
>> We are working on the ability to deploy Learn SaaS and Ultra on a 
>> cloud architecture in a Bb-managed data center, because that will be 
>> required in some regions. However, even though Learn SaaS and Ultra 
>> might in a Bb-managed data center, that's not the same as what we 
>> call "Managed Hosting" today. It's a different infrastructure.
>> 
>> Similarly, we are *exploring* the ability to deploy Learn SaaS and 
>> Ultra on a cloud architecture in a customer data center. And, again, 
>> even though Learn SaaS and Ultra could possibly be in your data 
>> center, that's not what you consider "self hosting" today. It's a 
>> different infrastructure - and a much more complex one at that. Also, 
>> that approach is just a vision at this point, so it's *at least* 18 months away (late 2016).
>> 
>> So, to be clear, Ultra will not be coming to Learn 9.1 in Managed 
>> Hosting or self-hosting as you know them today. However, a cloud 
>> architecture that can support Learn SaaS (which includes all the 9.1 
>> functionality) and Ultra will be coming to Bb-managed data centers in 
>> some regions and potentially even to customer's own data centers in 
>> the future. Those are distinct approaches with a different 
>> infrastructure than today's Managed Hosting and self-hosting options.
>> 
>> It's also important to note that we are fully committed to Learn 9.1 
>> in self-hosted and Managed Hosting and have quality improvements, 
>> workflow enhancements, and entirely new features (like improved grade 
>> exchange and competency-based learning) slated for the 9.1 roadmap.
>> 
>> Our messaging on this not been as clear as it should have been. We 
>> will try to do better. In the meantime, I hope that the above helps clarify.
>> 
>> - greg