SaaS Services are being developed by the National Documentation Centre of Greece (EKT) in the framework of the National Information System for Research and Technology (NISRT), a national research e-infrastructure which has the following mission:
Apart from offering a range of services to individual users, EKT’s strategic goal is to provide comprehensive services to a broad range of cultural and scientific institutions, at no extra cost for them. Regarding the Software as a Service as the most suitable model for achieving economies of scale in the delivery of software services, EKT develops SaaS services, thus services that combine Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud Computing technologies with state-of-the-art business models.
SaaS services are provided to the country's institutions that traditionally produce and manage cultural or research data, such as museums, libraries, archives, etc. They are aimed at enhancing the institutions’ online presence through the delivery of integrated solutions that correspond to the principal requirements regarding the lifecycle of the digital content: safe storage, metadata development and mapping, organization, management, delivery, use and re-use. To ensure continuous technical and administrative support for these institutions, e-learning and e-ticketing services complement the main services offered. The services encompass international standards and best practices in the related fields.
Such an initiative aims at enhancing the collaboration among prestigious Greek cultural institutions, and at developing a sustainable ecosystem for the management and delivery of authoritative digital content. In this context, EKT sets a national best practice in the field of cultural data, with significant international impact.
The services are implemented in the framework of the project “A Services’ Platform for the Safe Deposit, Management and Dissemination of Open Data and Digital Content” that is being funded through the Operational Programme "Digital Convergence", NSFR (2007-2013).