IBM Cloud Academy

For educational institutions, the mandate is clear: Reduce costs and optimize services while making information available and secure whenever and wherever it's needed.

Consolidate resources. Improve student success. Accelerate scientific discoveries. Add administrative efficiencies. Conserve resources. These are among the challenges that cloud computing can help schools and universities address, and that shape the agenda of the IBM Cloud Academy.

The IBM Cloud Academy mission

The mission of the IBM Cloud Academy is to provide an organization for K-12 schools and higher education institutions that are actively integrating cloud technologies into their infrastructures to share best practices in the use of clouds and to collaborate with partners to create innovative cloud technologies and models.

Why become a member

Implementing cloud computing puts your institution in a league of excellent colleagues. The IBM Cloud Academy connects you with other K-12 and higher education leaders who are integrating cloud technologies and solutions into their institutions' infrastructures. By encouraging collaboration among IBM researchers, developers, IT architects and schools, the IBM Cloud Academy includes participating institutions in a community that helps maximize the benefits of cloud computing investments.

What we do

By providing a forum for the exchange of best practices, the IBM Cloud Academy is helping member institutions to accelerate the successful deployment of cloud computing models that significantly enhance teaching and learning, administration and research at the university level. Since it was first announced at EDUCAUSE in November of 2009, the IBM Cloud Academy members have been working collaboratively to:

• Provide a forum for the exchange of best practices to accelerate the successful deployment of cloud computing models that enhance education.
• Enable member organizations to gain early insight about and access to emerging cloud computing technologies development and research from IBM and partners.
• Develop linkages and contribute to repositories for cloud computing curriculum, tools and resources for teaching, skills development and implementation.
• Foster pilot projects and collaborative programs by members to evaluate the technical, financial and service qualities of cloud computing.
• Disseminate our insights, performance metrics, benefits and understanding of cloud computing through reports, white papers, presentations and other scholarly and technical communications.

Membership benefits

Why should your academic institution consider joining the IBM Cloud Academy? Because it helps you get more from your cloud investment with IBM. The IBM Cloud Academy is a forum for exchanging and developing ideas that helps you elevate your cloud to its fullest potential.

The following are six key benefits of membership:

• Community access – A support community that changes local IT culture by embracing cloud computing.
• Knowledge sharing – Thought leaders and technical experts with knowledge of tested cloud computing technologies and solutions.
• Project support – Technical and business case examples, benchmarking data and access to resources that support cloud computing projects.
• Project funding – Funding opportunities for competitively awarded cloud computing projects and research.
• Resources – Strategies for using cloud computing to transform education and research in K-12 and global higher education.
• Headlights – Trends in K-12 and higher education regarding the move to cloud computing models and approaches.