Governance issues for e-Infrastructures

By Fotis Karagiannis, Independent Consultant AUEB/e-IRGSP2, Greece

According to Wikipedia “governance” is the “activity of governing, relating to decisions that grant power, verify performance and define expectations”. For an organization or a project, “governance relates to consistent management, cohesive policies, processes and decision-rights for a given area of responsibility”. Equally, governance of major e-Infrastructures relates to the structures and policies responsible for their sustainable operation and innovative development. This article outlines major European and national e-Infrastructure governance models, together with related governance issues.

CURRENT SITUATION
The European e-Infrastructure consists of different service components that are separately organised and operated. If presented in layers, the research networks would constitute the bottom layer; computing and storage facilities would sit on top of networks; and the data component would sit on the top-most layer.
Computing and storage e-Infrastructures can be further sub-divided into “grids” and “supercomputers”. Grid middleware, which used to be included in the computing and storage layer, is gradually moving towards autonomy. Other sub-layers such as “cloud computing” are about to appear. e-Infrastructures usually start as isolated islands (with emphasis on innovation) and gradually consolidate and mature (with a shift in emphasis towards interoperability). The different layers have different maturity levels: the network (on the bottom) is most mature, while the data layer (on the top) is least mature.
Given Europe’s federated approach – involving a series of nations – e-Infrastructures tend to be distributed, integrating national resources into a common pool. In addition to European and national levels, other levels can also exist, such as regional (either multi-country or intra-country) and campus levels. Thus a hierarchy of levels, each injecting some appropriate management structure, forms each component of e-Infrastructure’s “picture puzzle”.
The above e-Infrastructure components can be associated with corresponding European and national initiatives and related projects:

• Research networks: GÉANT and the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), along with their TERENA association

• Grids: EGI and the National Grid Initiatives (NGIs)
• Supercomputers: the PRACE initiative and National Supercomputing Centres
• Grid Middleware: EMI and Middleware Consortia
  

Although these components have predominantly self-governing structures, there are sound interactions between them. For the data component, although there are related flagship projects, there is still no clear governance model. The e-IRG e-Infrastructure Roadmap identifies this issue, which will gain interest in coming years (see also the joint e-IRG-ESFRI e-IRG Data Management Task Force report and the vision for a Global Research Data Infrastructure 2020).

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
Some obvious governance issues come to mind when considering this e-Infrastructure ecosystem:

• How firm are the boundaries of the different e-Infrastructure layers? Should these layers be kept separated or integrated? History indicates a trend for separation, an example being the new independence of the grid middleware component, which has spun-off from the grid world. However, an integrated approach to e-Science services should be gaining space, yet this is not yet visible. A top-down usercentric approach could be also considered for the developing data layer. At the national level, integrated approaches are more frequent.

• Should there be centralised or decentralised governance of each of the components? And to what degree? Current approaches demonstrate equilibrium between centralised and decentralised governance: most national entities maintain their own independence, while the European structures carve wider policies and strategies.

• How are different stakeholders, including users, represented? There is no homogeneous approach that characterises the different components. The gravity of users towards some components (posing their requirements) can define their representation. Policy stakeholders, such as the e-IRG and ESFRI, play important roles in shaping strategies. Notably, e-IRG will be preparing a report provisionally named the e-IRG “Blue Paper”, focusing on effective approaches to developing and implementing ICT tools across the range of Pan-European research infrastructures.

• Federated vs. other approaches? Federated approaches currently dominate the different e-Infrastructure components, however other approaches are possible. “Cross-border fibres” is one such approach, and currently co-exists with the federated approach.

• What about funding and business models? Should service fees be introduced? How will innovation and industrial involvement be promoted? These are very hot issues without easy answers. In some cases, such as that of EGI, business models are being developed (following the EGI blueprint) in which service charges will be gradually introduced, but industrial involvement is still a challenge. PRACE is actively cooperating with industry in developing supercomputing prototypes, while new instruments such as Private Public Partnerships (PPPs) and Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) supported by the EC may fertilise such collaboration.

EUROPEAN AND NATIONAL GOVERNANCE MODELS

Governance models for major European e-Infrastructures, such as GEANT, EGI and PRACE, were presented at the EGEE’09 conference and at the 7th e-Infrastructures concertation meeting. Interesting examples of national e-Infrastructure governance models include the following:

• Germany has created a new legal entity to play the role of German NGI (a distinct approach)

• Greece has expanded its NREN to cover the grid and supercomputing components (an integrated approach)

• The Netherlands are moving towards improved coherency, positioning all e-Infrastructures under the same SURF umbrella (a coordinated approach)

CONCLUSIONS
Governance models are not yet well established. The governance of the European e-Infrastructure ecosystem will take shape in the years to come and should be carefully worked out by all stakeholders, aiming towards integrated service offerings for user communities (i.e. focused on infrastructure as a service). The role of the European Commission is vital in this. The EC has already taken steps to bring all stakeholders around the same table to discuss the future. Finally, a new legal instrument has been created – the European Research Infrastructure (ERIC) – as a flexible response to some of the above issues.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this talk reflect the opinions of the author and not necessarily of the referred project or organisation