Mission Statement

The New Zealand Access Federation - Tuakiri will establish and manage the legal, governance, policy and technical frameworks required to form an identity access federation service between New Zealand universities and Crown Research Institutes.

Project Roadmap

The project is currently sponsored by the New Zealand Government's Ministry of Science and Innovation (MSI) until 31 December, 2011. After this time, the vision is to move the New Zealand Access Federation to a self funding subscription model.

The project program is underway for the establishment of Tuakiri, New Zealand Access Federation; it is being developed with support from New Zealand Landcare Research, The University of Auckland and The University of Canterbury. The program will see through the setup of an interim Executive Committee, which will develop governance, rules and policies, the legal entity and the business model, manage the operations and meet legal and other compliance requirements.

The objectives of the project are to:

Provide technical assistance to New Zealand universities, government/crown research agencies and groups that join Tuakiri
Develop and implement a governance model and consistent technologies to support a trusted national authentication and authorisation regime
Enter into con-federation arrangements with the Australian Access Federation to support wider collaboration
Work closely with the Australian Access Federation on the establishment of Tuakiri’s service model, infrastructure and co-location service level agreements
Support the initial operations of Tuakiri until the sector can move to a self funding subscription basis
Upscale marketing and communications to accelerate the uptake of Tuakiri services by both the higher education sector, research communities and broader research organisations, including NZ CRI research groups and government departments
Stimulate the development, deployment and use of Tuakiri enabled services

Key Stakeholders

The key stakeholders for the establishment of Tuakiri, New Zealand Access Federation are:

The New Zealand Universities represented by their IT Directors, through NZVCC and ICTC
The Crown Research Institute represented by their IT Directors, through CRITTERS
MoRST IAM Initiative – Julie Watson, eResearch Advisor
The Australian Access Federation Inc, including the Federation Operator
The Council of Australasian University IT Directors (CAUDIT)
IMAGER – a consultation group coordinated by Ministry of Science and Innovation and representatives of broader sector interests