1. Supporting further and higher education Middleware and AA within the JISC Environment Nicole Harris, JISC Development Group

2. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes2 Overview What is the JISC ‘Environment’? –The JISC Information Environment (IE); –eLearning Technical Framework; –GRID / Virtual Research Environment; –The UK “Common” Information Environment (CIE). What have we done to support AA? What are we planning? Why this, why now?

3. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes3 The IE Architecture JISC-funded content providers institutional content providers external content providers brokersaggregatorscataloguesindexes institutional portals subject portals learning management systems media-specific portals end-user desktop/browser presentation fusion provision OpenURL resolvers shared infrastructure authentication/authorisation (Athens) JISC IE service registry institutional profiling services user preferences services resolvers metadata schema registries

4. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes4 The eLearning Technical Framework

5. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes5 eResearch Community ?

6. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes6 The “Common” IE (CIE) A much wider UK public sector partnership JISC Museums/Galleries/Public Libraries The British Library National Health Service e-Science Core Programme Aim is to provide consistent access for the UK public across a wide spread of publicly-funded work

7. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes7 Athens in the UK Athens currently provides the authentication and authorisation service for the Information Environment. A username /password based service for unifying access to electronic library-type resources. –Mainly though not exclusively licensed via JISC consortium deals. Over 2 million current usernames. –Username/password database; maintenance devolved to institutions. Around 500 HE and FE institutions use the Athens service. Around 200 licensed resources are controlled via Athens. –A high proportion of the major academic publishers have now implemented Athens.

8. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes8 The e-Science CA Part of the Grid Support Centre at CLRC/RAL Based on OpenCA software (with local modifications) Verification of user identities carried out by trusted RAs around the community Current scale of operation a few hundred certificates per year

9. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes9 The AAA Programme July 2002: “to undertake a number of projects designed to give the UK experience of the emerging technologies in the authentication and authorisation area, based on open, vendor-independent standards.” An Audit.

10. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes10 AAA Projects Very briefly, technologies investigated : –AKENTI. –PERMIS. –CAS (Community Authorisation Service). –PAPI. –RADIUS. –SHIBBOLETH. –DIGITAL CERTIFICATE / PKI DEVELOPMENTS. Supported By: –Study of Institutional Roles. –Policy Study.

11. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes11 Moving Forward Next-generation AAA infrastructure must support the following scenarios: –Internal (intra-institutional) applications as well as use between organisations; –Management of access to third-party digital library-type resources (as now); –Inter-institutional use – stable, long-term resource sharing between defined groups (e.g. shared e-learning scenarios); –Inter-institutional use – ad hoc ;collaborations, potentially dynamic in nature (virtual organisations or VOs). Athens in current form does not.

12. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes12 Core Middleware: Technology Development 16 funded projects. April 2004 – March 2007. Investigating the development of middleware technology within key areas: –grid development, –PERMIS development, –portals development, –inter-institutional collaboration, –Shibboleth in non-University environments.

13. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes13 Core Middleware: Infrastructure Aim: to build working Shibboleth Infrastructure within the UK. ‘Shibbolising’ JISC resources. Central services: WAYF, target support, origin support, policy development. Early Adopters calls. Athens gateway.

14. 08 June 2004TERENA 2004, Rhodes14 Why this? Why now? Clearly identified NEED for new service from community. Good international take-up of Shibboleth. Shibboleth trials successful (AAA Programme) – proven to meet requirements. Interest from Publishers. Being open!