You can see the 2017 fees (and comparisons to the 2016 fees) on the InCommon web.
| Table of Contents |
|---|
What is this new fee structure?
The InCommon Steering Committee has approved new fee structure for 2017 and effective November 1, 2016. This is the first fee increase since 2012.
Why are fees going up so soon?
series of meetings held over the summer, and involving community leaders, Internet2 trust and identity staff, and others assessed community needs and the capacity of InCommon/Internet2 and the community to deliver on those needs in the face of increasing urgency. Among other themes and requirements, the review identified two immediate needs to be addressed in 2017 (and necessitating the fee increase):
- Harden the operations of the InCommon Federation by providing additional resources specifically to InCommon Operations. This reinforces the support for the Federation, which has become critical infrastructure on many participating campuses.
- Ensure the sustainability of the Shibboleth software by providing resources to the Shibboleth for software development. Approximately 90 percent of federation participants rely on Shibbloeth as part of their identity management infrastructure.
What is the next step for the financial model?
The financial model will continue to evolve during 2017. The goal is to create a financial model that will enable InCommon and the community to deliver on the other key priorities that have emerged from this review, which will likely mean additional fee increases in successive years.
What are the longer-term issues that were identified?
The key themes that emerged from the review process include:
- Internet2, InCommon, and TIER (Trust and Identity in Education and Research) have a leadership position in US trust and identity. There is a desire to maintain this position, even in the face of considerable threats.
- The trust and identity solution set(s) for higher education remain sufficiently unique that we need to continue to develop these solutions.
- The InCommon Federation and TIER Program are highly dependent upon one another
- Sustained engagement with both executive and technical community leadership will be necessary for a vibrant trust and identity set of capabilities and vetted campus deployment strategies.
- Services and new capabilities require multiple funding strategies that best suit their contexts.
Why are there different fee categories now?
The InCommon Steering Committee determined that:
- The InCommon Steering Committee determined that Research Organizations, particularly VOs (virtual organizations) have limited funding but are very important to many InCommon identity providers. Research Organizations are exempt from this year's fee increase.
- InCommon Steering also determined that participants joining InCommon only to use certificates (and hence do not have an entry in the metadata) will see a smaller increase, given that they are not using Federation resources (but still require support) . Please note that the Certificate Service fees, which arr separate from the participant fees, are unchanged.