How to Build a Cloud Storage Service for Half a Million Users in Higher Education: Challenges Met and Solutions Found
Abstract
IT projects across organizational boundaries face unique challenges. This is particularly true for higher education, where experiences with largescale cooperative projects are very limited. One successful example is "sciebo - the campuscloud", a private cloud solution with 500,000 potential users jointly operated by more than 20 universities in the German state North Rhine-Westphalia. Using the example of sciebo, this case study discusses the difficulties of inter-university IT projects, the solutions achieved and the experiences gained from the perspective of the project leaders. It particularly addresses the benefits of bringing in know-how from other disciplines, the technical implementation and the use of innovative instruments.
Keywords
Cloud; Collaboration; Diffusion; Project