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Pilot description

What is Nextcloud?

Nextcloud, a German company, provides open-source collaboration software for storage, sharing, communication, and productivity, built on privacy, data ownership, and open standards. Its features are integrated into a single platform called Nextcloud Hub, which includes:

• Files: file storage, sharing, and synchronization.

• Office: online document editing with real-time collaboration.

• Talk: video conferencing, chat, and voice calls.

• Groupware: calendar, contacts, and email integration.

• Assistant: privacy-focused AI for summarizing, drafting, and answering questions.

• Productivity apps: notes, tasks, project organization, forms, and more.

Nextcloud is based on the same software as ownCloud, which SURF used for SURFdrive (since 2014) and SURF Research Drive (since 2018). In 2025, both services were migrated to Nextcloud. Currently, we use only a subset of Nextcloud’s full functionality, focusing on Files for storage, sharing and synchronization and Office for real-time document editing.

Why are we conducting a pilot?

Europe has become increasingly dependent on large American tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Geopolitical developments in 2025 have raised concerns that we can no longer safely entrust our data to these companies, that essential services could be disrupted or access withdrawn, even without the companies’ consent, and that costs may be affected, for example through price wars.

SURF offers all members the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with Nextcloud as a full collaborative environment. Beyond the current services, the pilot allows exploration of additional tools for communication, productivity, and collaboration. It is a key step toward ensuring that critical services, such as data storage and communications, remain available, secure, and under institutional control.

Why have we chosen Nextcloud?

We chose Nextcloud because it closely aligns with the values and needs of Dutch education and research. First, it supports self-hosting, so data remain under Dutch jurisdiction in domestic data centers managed by SURF. Second, as open-source software, it gives us full control to manage, adapt, and reuse the platform as needed. Third, by relying on open standards, Nextcloud makes collaboration between institutions straightforward and ensures that systems can be seamlessly connected.

At SURF, we already have extensive experience with this software. Since 2014, we have used its file storage, sharing, synchronization, and real-time document editing features for multiple services. We also gained experience with the full collaborative environment during the Nextcloud Proeftuin (2023) and the AlgoSoc pilot (2025).

What are the goals for the pilot?

The pilot aims to explore and validate a Nextcloud-based collaborative environment, focusing on:

• Architecture: Identify the most suitable setup (single instance, multiple centrally managed instances, or a federated model) and assess its impact on performance, collaboration, management, costs, and scaling.

• User experience: Evaluate usability for lecturers, researchers, staff, and students, and identify improvements for adoption and workflow integration.

• Collaboration & interoperability: Test secure cross-institution collaboration, including guest users, and assess necessary system integrations.

• Management & governance: Determine effective structures for administration, decision-making, responsibilities, and support between SURF and institutions.

• Security & privacy: Ensure compliance with laws and regulations, resilience against incidents, and alignment with digital autonomy principles.

• AI Assistant: Evaluate responsible integration of an AI assistant to support daily tasks while safeguarding privacy.

• Future implementation: Identify scalable scenarios for institutions to increase digital independence and expand the platform to more users.

Who can participate?

Institutions: Participation is open to all SURF member institutions, including universities, universities of applied sciences (hbo), vocational colleges (mbo), university medical centers (umc), and research institutions.

Users: Lecturers, researchers, staff, and students can take part in the pilot. Each institution decides which of its users will participate. The pilot is limited to a total of 2,000 users.

When will the pilot take place?

The pilot will start in January 2026 and is organized in five phases:

1. Preparation (Months 1–2): Establish project organization, select pilot participants, set up the technical environment, and conduct communication and onboarding activities. We expect the environment to be ready for support staff by February 1 and for end users by March 1, potentially using a phased rollout.

2. Execution (Months 3–10): Active use of Nextcloud, collecting feedback, and monitoring usage and performance.

3. Midterm Evaluation (Month 6): Interim report with initial findings, issues, and improvement suggestions.

4. Final Evaluation (Month 11): Evaluation sessions with users and institutions and analysis of results.

5. Reporting & Decision-Making (Month 12): Final report and advice on continuation or scaling of the platform.

What does the collaboration platform offer?

Participants in the pilot have access to the Nextcloud Hub, a full collaborative environment. Some features will be gradually enabled as agreements and technical configurations are finalized in coordination with institutions. These include:

• Email integration: Configuration depends on both SURF and the institutions, requiring agreements to manage mutual dependencies.

• Calendar: Effective use may require room booking and, potentially, synchronization with existing calendars to avoid managing multiple systems.

• AI assistant: While responsible AI models can be connected, careful evaluation and agreements are needed to ensure responsible use.

The platform supports authentication via SURF Research Access Management (SRAM) or SURFconext (to be determined), providing secure single sign-on access for all participating institutions.

Please note that the platform integrates with existing email services but does not provide an email service itself.

What does SURF provide?

In addition to providing access to the Nextcloud Hub, SURF supports participating institutions by offering second-line support, training for first-line support staff within institutions, and coordination of a special interest group that meets regularly to share experiences and discuss challenges. SURF also provides guidance and advice to help ensure a successful implementation of the collaborative environment.

What is expected of participants?

Institutions: Participating institutions are expected to select a group of at least 20 users who will use the platform in their daily work. They provide first-line support to these users and maintain contact with SURF as second-line support. Institutions also send a representative to the special interest group and actively contribute to collecting user feedback and evaluating the pilot.

Users: Users are expected to actively use the platform in their daily work throughout the pilot, provide feedback on usability and functionality, and participate in pilot-related activities as requested by their institution.

How is the pilot governed?

The pilot is supported by a structured governance framework with three levels:

• Steering Committee: Representatives from participating institutions oversee strategic decisions, monitor progress, approve changes, and guide potential scaling. They meet quarterly or as needed for key decisions.

• Special Interest Group (SIG): Functional and technical staff from institutions and SURF coordinate operational priorities, share experiences, and propose recommendations to the steering committee. Meetings are held monthly.

• Daily Operations Team: The project leader, technical administrators, and SURF advisors manage day-to-day activities, monitor usage, provide support and training, and report to the SIG and steering committee.

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