About

The Cloud Licence Office (CLO) has been established to provide guidance on the purchase and use of cloud services by members of CERN’s personnel. The CLO will operate on the basis of the Policy for Cloud Usage.

Role Description

There is a global trend towards outsourcing computing services to third party providers via the World Wide Web. For CERN, such “Cloud Services” might be more cost-effective than hosting them on-premises. However, certain aspects of the Cloud Services' “Acceptable Use Policy” related with privacy, data protection/locality & ownership, security, but also linked with CERN’s privileges and immunities might have adverse effects on CERN’s reputation and operation.

It is in the mandate of the Cloud License Officer (CLO) to coordinate any purchase or usage of Cloud Services at CERN or by CERN personnel, evaluate whether adverse conditions exist and whether the overall risks are acceptable to the Organization, and to authorize any site-wide purchase & usage of Cloud Services. Please note that the procedure to purchase software and Cloud services is changing on 8 March 2021. You may find the new procedure in Software and Cloud Licence Ordering Process

Policy Implementation

As per the Policy for Cloud Usage above, we have two different cases:

• Entreprise Clouds: Require a contract with CERN following previous consultation and approval by the CLO. For this case, please collect the information and documents described in Questions to Enterprise Cloud providers before contacting the CLO.
• Public Clouds: Can be used by individuals without conclusion of a contract with the service provider. Can only be used for CERN business if no CERN legally protected data is involved, if confidential data restrictions are strictly adhered to with appropriate access controls and if it is possible to transfer all CERN data onsite or to another account when required. They have to be registered in the list of compliant public clouds maintained by the CLO by satisfactorily completing the CERN Self-assessment of Public Clouds