Benefits of more OpenAthens subscriptions to be shared through lower prices

It has become clear during the past month that, contrary to previous expectations, the JISC will not be contracting with Eduserv for provision of Shibboleth/Athens gateways for all universities and colleges from August 2008. (These gateways enable members of a university or college in the UK Access Management Federation to access Athens-protected resources to which the institution subscribes: FAQs at http://www.athensams.net/federations/openathens/faq provide further details.) The non-negotiable offer we received from the JISC did not approach the projected full economic cost of the service in 2008/2009 or provide a sustainable basis for the future.

Gateway functionality remains an integral part of our OpenAthens offering. As a result of the lack of a central contract for the gateways we now expect there to be a larger number of OpenAthens subscriptions. As a not-for-profit provider of shared services to education and the public sector, Eduserv will seek to share the benefits of the higher than anticipated subscriptions and will do this through a reduction in the price of the service of up to 40% - or more, if take-up is very high.

Benefits of OpenAthens

Implementing OpenAthens provides:

i) continuity of one password, single sign-on access to e-resources from a not-for-profit organisation that has delivered the Athens access and Identity management shared service since 1995

ii) access through a fully scaleable service that currently handles over 10 million monthly authentications to 600 e-resource bundles from more than 200 data providers

iii) solutions that work with your infrastructure with a choice of managed directory or local directory service options

iv) ability to access Athens protected resources from Shibboleth implementations and vice versa

v) improving user experience through the customisable MyAthens portal

vi) technical compliance enabling full participating membership of the UK Access Management Federation on completion of its formalities

vii) standards-compliant software, plus installation support, for sites wishing to act as service providers for other members of the UK Access Management Federation and/or other OpenAthens users

viii) access to the technology solutions that we create to enable participation in other federations

ix) a supported solution that minimises the demands on internal development and service staff.

Pricing

As shown below, we will reduce the price as increasing numbers of universities and colleges commit to OpenAthens subscriptions.

JISC Band	1) Published price previously announced	2) New price in the light of anticipated higher take-up	3) Price if over 300 institutions participate	4) Price if over 400 institutions participate
A	£9,500	£8,075	£6,650	£5,700
B	£8,500	£7,225	£5,950	£5,100
C	£7,500	£6,375	£5,250	£4,500
D	£6,500	£5,525	£4,550	£3,900
E	£5,500	£4,675	£3,850	£3,300
F	£4,500	£3,825	£3,150	£2,700
G	£3,500	£2,975	£2,450	£2,100
H	£2,500	£2,125	£1,750	£1,500
I	£1,500	£1,275	£1,050	£900
J	£800	£680	£560	£480

Positive feedback already suggests that take-up of OpenAthens is likely to exceed our initial estimates, so we are now moving to the prices in column 2. Prices in columns 3 or 4 (representing 30 and 40% discounts respectively) will become effective if participation reaches the specified level by the end of May. (Given the current limited availability of online resources in some colleges, we do not expect take up significantly beyond 400 institutions at this stage but we will make further reductions if we are proved wrong.) We will keep you updated on subscription progress between now and the end of May. Institutions that commit to a three-year subscription will secure the benefits of the reduced prices for the entire period. For institutions who do not wish to make such a commitment we guarantee that the price for 2009/2010 and for 2010/2011 will in any case not exceed the 2007/2008 price previously announced (column 1).

Please complete the attached Commitment Form as soon as possible. Final cut off for forms will be Friday, 30^th May 2008. We will use the firm commitments that we have received at that stage to finalise pricing in accordance with the thresholds specified, and will then incorporate these reduced prices in the formal subscription documentation, which we will send to you in June. Invoices will be raised at the end of June, dated 1^st August 2008 so that payment can come out of your 2008/9 budget. Please let us know if earlier payment is of help to you.

We are sending this email to our Chest and Athens contacts and to UCISA and SCONUL lists: apologies for duplications. We have sought to answer the most obvious FAQs at http://www.athensams.net/federations/openathens/faq, but if you have any further questions or would like further information please contact us at openathens@eduserv.org.uk or by phone on 01225 474380.

We are disappointed that we have been unable to reach agreement with the JISC on central funding for a Gateways service. We are committed to providing real sustainable benefit and shared value to the HE and FE communities. We believe that the measures outlined above are now the best way we can do this.

22 January 2008