The RHEDCloud Foundation is a business league founded to implement the RHEDCloud Project, a cybersecurity framework and open-source program consisting of security, provisioning, and management tools for cloud-based software. The project focuses on developing cybersecurity tools for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, which are the three main public-facing could-based hosting services.

The organization solicits memberships that allow research organizations and universities to provide input into the project. Members of the foundation include Amazon Web Services, Google, Cisco, Princeton University, and Duke University. ¹

Background

The RHEDcloud Foundation was founded in 2019 to initiate the RHEDcloud Project, an open-source project for companies and research universities to collaborate on cloud security requirements and implementations for Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, which are the major three public cloud vendors providing cloud infrastructure for enterprises, known as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). ^{2 3}

The organization’s name stands for Research, Healthcare and Higher Education Cloud Foundation and the project seeks to further cultivate the “proper use” of cloud computing technologies. The project aims to bring together research universities, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, cloud service providers, and cloud platform providers to design and implement better security, automation, and integration for cloud computing. ^{4 5}

The project that led to the creation of the RHEDcloud Foundation was founded at Emory University after discussion of the fact that the institution was unable to calculate the total amount of money it spent on Amazon Web Services. This was due to its expenses being spread across several different IT department budgets, and sometimes were expensed on personal credit cards and charged to general accounts such as “office supplies.” The purpose of the RHEDcloud software is in part to allow institutions to “manage the total cloud platform spend for the entire institution.” ⁶

One of the 14 founding members of the organization was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s department of Information Technology Services. UNC-Chapel Hill stated that joining the foundation’s membership would allow the school to acquire tools and experience as it builds “environments in the cloud.” The university, as with other members, would also automatically receive a license to use outside of the foundation any work that is developed within the foundation. ^{7 8}

Activity

According to its website, the RHEDcloud Foundation’s activity including promoting collaborative research and software development through documenting security requirements and risk assessments, collecting and sharing data collected by members of the foundation, and creating educational materials and opportunities. ⁹

The RHEDcloud software is given to members of the organization for free and members retain intellectual property rights to software and programs they created for the project. The main purpose of the software is to allow institutions to manage cloud budgets by brokering cloud programs on behalf of the entire institution. ¹⁰

Funding and Membership

The RHEDcloud Foundation is funded by its members, which includes universities, healthcare companies, pharmaceutical companies, and cloud software companies. Members pay $10,000 annually to join the foundation and the foundation allows individuals to become members for $100 annually. ¹¹

Members of the foundation include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Emory University, Emory Healthcare, Google, Merck, University of Colorado, Rice University, Duke University, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, Internet2, Navigator Management Partners, Princeton University, Logicalis, and Candid.Cloud. ¹²

1. “About the RHEDcloud Project.” RHEDcloud Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://www.rhedcloud.org/pages/about-the-rhedcloud-project
2. “ITS Joins Partnership to Advance Cloud.” University of North Carolina Information Technology Services. June 21, 2019. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://its.unc.edu/2019/06/21/rhedcloud/
3. “RHEDcloud Project Proposal.” RHEDcloud Foundation Wiki. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://rhedcloud.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/OV/pages/196609/RHEDcloud+Project+Proposal
4. “ITS Joins Partnership to Advance Cloud.” University of North Carolina Information Technology Services. June 21, 2019. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://its.unc.edu/2019/06/21/rhedcloud/
5. “RHEDcloud Project Proposal.” RHEDcloud Foundation Wiki. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://rhedcloud.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/OV/pages/196609/RHEDcloud+Project+Proposal
6. “RHEDcloud at Emory.” RHEDcloud Foundation Wiki. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://rhedcloud.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RP/pages/684818592/RHEDcloud+at+Emory
7. “ITS Joins Partnership to Advance Cloud.” University of North Carolina Information Technology Services. June 21, 2019. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://its.unc.edu/2019/06/21/rhedcloud/
8. “RHEDcloud Project Proposal.” RHEDcloud Foundation Wiki. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://rhedcloud.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/OV/pages/196609/RHEDcloud+Project+Proposal
9. “About the RHEDcloud Project.” RHEDcloud Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://www.rhedcloud.org/pages/about-the-rhedcloud-project
10. “About the RHEDcloud Project.” RHEDcloud Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://www.rhedcloud.org/pages/about-the-rhedcloud-project
11. “Join the RHEDcloud Project.” RHEDcloud Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://www.rhedcloud.org/pages/join-the-rhedcloud-project
12. “Join the RHEDcloud Project.” RHEDcloud Foundation. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://www.rhedcloud.org/pages/join-the-rhedcloud-project