1. SCI-BUS is supported by the FP7 Capacities Programme under contract no. RI-283481 Introduction to Science Gateway Sustainability Dr. Wibke Sudholt CloudBroker GmbH Räffelstrasse 25, CH-8045 Zürich, Switzerland Phone: +41 44 515 21 70 Email: wibke.sudholt@cloudbroker.com Web: http://www.cloudbroker.comwibke.sudholt@cloudbroker.comhttp://www.cloudbroker.com

2. © CloudBroker GmbH All rights reserved. Sustainability Every time your project funding is coming close to its end, your funding agency asks you for a business plan to describe how to further sustain the results of your work But this usually turns out to be not that easy, and … 05.06.2013 / 2 SCI-BUS Sustainability Workshop

3. © CloudBroker GmbH All rights reserved. The Issues Are Known 05.06.2013 / 3 SCI-BUS Sustainability Workshop

4. Source: http://sciencegateways.org/resources/, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ziEt0LRxEA&feature=youtu.behttp://sciencegateways.org/resources/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ziEt0LRxEA&feature=youtu.be

5. © CloudBroker GmbH All rights reserved. Provider View We have a growing number of users, but our resources are limited We already provide our technology as open source to the community But we need some basic funding to at least allow operating and maintaining the gateway server We only receive project-based funding, and the next renewal is unsure We are only funded for innovation and research, not for providing a production service If we are not funded anymore, someone else will reimplement something similar, thus reinvent the wheel and waste time and money Our funding organization always requires a sustainability plan, but we cannot find a realistic solution to this issue except of writing a new project proposal … 05.06.2013 / 5 SCI-BUS Sustainability Workshop

6. © CloudBroker GmbH All rights reserved. User View Science gateways make it so much easier and faster to perform my research I get access to compute and/or storage resources I usually don’t have access to and can interact with other users All other computer resources I use are for free, so I’m unwilling to pay for a gateway I do not get any funding to spend on infrastructure services, but laboratory researchers get all their consumables paid I think pay-per-use is too expensive, but must admit that I never saw a full- cost calculation of the resources I use for free If necessary, I would let it all be done locally by hand again, as students are a cheap workforce Or I would write proposals or spend money to get access to some local cluster, supercomputer center or grid resources and hope for their support … 05.06.2013 / 6 SCI-BUS Sustainability Workshop

7. © CloudBroker GmbH All rights reserved. Consequences ⇒ Gateway providers need to understand that offering a usable production service and having a sustainable business plan is at least as important for survival of the gateway as developing cool technology and fancy features ⇒ Funding agencies need to understand that modern complex science needs a stable and easy-to-use infrastructure and software service basis to operate upon to further be successful ⇒ Gateway users need to understand that nothing in life is for free, and that they will have market power if they pay money for their science gateway usage 05.06.2013 / 7 SCI-BUS Sustainability Workshop

8. © CloudBroker GmbH All rights reserved. Solutions? Write further proposals to institutions, government funding agencies and NGOs? Search for sponsors or include ads? Adopt a pay-per-use cloud model and let users pay for science gateway as a service? Commercialize the underlying technology, for example by a spin-off or partner company? Offer hosting and consulting services for a fee? Bring gateway providers together across countries, frameworks and/or domains to use synergies? Lobby institutions, governments and NGOs for sustainable funding? Let users find funding for their particular community? Wait for how academic software and infrastructure providers solve their similar issues? … 05.06.2013 / 8 SCI-BUS Sustainability Workshop

9. © CloudBroker GmbH All rights reserved. Workshop Objectives The goal of the Science Gateway Sustainability and Industry Utilization Workshop is to discuss topics that are of importance to sustain science gateways after their initial funding has run out. A particular focus will be put on utilizing the concepts and actual outcomes of science gateway projects in commercial environments. Questions to consider include for example: – How to create spin-offs from academic gateway projects? – How can science gateways and clouds benefit from each other? – How can newcomers set up a gateway for their customer community? – How to generate revenues from a science gateway? 05.06.2013 / 9 SCI-BUS Sustainability Workshop

10. © CloudBroker GmbH All rights reserved. Further Agenda 15:00-15:30Podium discussion of speakers and audience 15:30-16:00Coffee Break 16:00-17:30Interactive Part 16:00-17:00Discussions in small groups 17:00-17:30Summary of group discussions for the whole audience 05.06.2013 / 10 SCI-BUS Sustainability Workshop

11. SCI-BUS is supported by the FP7 Capacities Programme under contract no. RI-283481 Thank you! – Questions? SCI-BUS project: http://www.sci-bus.eu http://www.sci-bus.eu Sustainability Workshop: http://www.sci-bus.eu/sustainability- workshophttp://www.sci-bus.eu/sustainability- workshop