Technology exchange
Call for Proposals

We're Counting on Your Input

The Internet2 Technology Exchange program is built by the research and education technical community.  The program ensures ample time for technical deep dives within each featured topic area, while also encouraging meaningful cross-topic discovery and collaboration.

The Call for Proposals for TechEX26 will be open in stages for various programmatic elements. Please mark your calendars and submit your proposals.

Open Feb. 23 – March 27
 

• Track Sessions — Presentations, Panels, Lightning Talks, and Facilitated Discussions/Debates
• Tutorials and Workshops 
• Co-Located Meetings

Open April 27 - Aug. 28
 

• Poster Sessions
• Working Meetings

Submissions are reviewed by a program committee of your peers. We count on your innovative contributions to ensure this is an invaluable technical event, a true Technology Exchange.

Featured Topics
 

• Advanced Networking
• Cloud Technology
• Identity & Access Management
• Information Security

Featured Topics

Advanced Networking

We are interested in hearing your stories about advanced networking topics, including implementing software-enabled infrastructure, automation and orchestration, AI-assisted networking, connecting to the cloud, using shared telemetry, network performance, operations, security, creating a NetDevOps team, supporting quantum computing at institutions, and more. Tell your story about these and other timely topics at TechEX26!

Accepted proposals should include links to resources used or developed as part of your story. These may include GitHub repositories, code snippets, or other materials the community might use to jump-start their journey.

This year, we are adding an "unconference" component to the Advanced Networking track. The programming on Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday will retain the same format as in past years–panels, presentations, and lightning talks. Thursday afternoon, attendees will select the topics and present the program with multiple rooms available, each with dedicated scribing, enabling multiple audience-driven sessions. More information on the unconference will be shared as the event approaches. Please plan to participate and stay for the Inaugural Unconference Reception Thursday evening!

Other topic areas to consider for the Advanced Networking track include (but are not limited to):
 

• Leveraging AI tools to automate workflows, enhance code quality, optimize network configurations, and accelerate development cycles through practical implementation stories and measurable outcomes
• Moving to a software-enabled infrastructure with the use of automation, orchestration, and telemetry
• Describing architecture or infrastructure shifts to better support your campus
• Use of infrastructure and services to support cloud, research, teaching, and learning
• Improving Routing Integrity via the use of authenticated IRRs and the creation of RPKI-ROAs, as well as using routing intentions data available via the router reports to ensure data makes use of the advanced network infrastructure
• Global collaborations to enable science, technology, and learning
• Plans to leverage broadband grants in your region, infrastructure upgrades, implementation of eduroam, and collaboration with minority-serving institutions
• Implementing identity management to support role-based authentication in software-enabled infrastructure
• Sharing plans for your network experiments at SC26

Submit Your Proposal

Cloud Technology

Cloud computing is a foundational technology for modern research and higher education. Institutions rely on it to run enterprise systems, support research, scale infrastructure, strengthen security, and respond quickly to changing needs. As cloud environments mature, the emphasis has shifted toward operating them with greater precision: improving performance, managing cost, reducing risk, and creating platforms that support both mission-critical operations and innovation.

This track highlights practical experience. We invite proposals that demonstrate how institutions are designing, building, and optimizing secure, efficient, high-performing cloud environments across research and administrative domains. Cloud underpins everything from ERP modernization to artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and data-intensive discovery. It also provides access to GPUs for research and specialized infrastructure that can rapidly expand institutional capability.

Sessions should focus on technical depth, architectural choices, operational practices, and lessons learned that others may apply within their own environments.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
 

• Architectures that support enterprise platforms, digital services, AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics
• Access to GPUs, high performance computing resources, and specialized infrastructure
• FinOps practices that improve cost transparency, forecasting, and financial governance
• DevOps and DevSecOps approaches that increase delivery speed while maintaining strong security
• Hybrid designs that integrate on-premises infrastructure with elastic cloud capacity
• Secure environments for regulated workloads, research data, and sensitive institutional systems
• Identity, security, and zero trust models for distributed infrastructure
• Automation and infrastructure as code that improve consistency and operational maturity
• Network strategies that enable high-performance connectivity across institutional and cloud environments
• GenAI-enabled development of management applications to improve efficiency and tackle technical debt
• Deployment, management, and use of cloud-native application platforms, such as Kubernetes

Submit Your Proposal

Identity & Access Management

Identity sits at the center of nearly everything in higher education and research—from cloud adoption and cross-institution collaboration to security programs and the day-to-day reality of running identity and access management (IAM) with “small but mighty” teams. As environments grow more complex and expectations rise, IAM decisions increasingly shape how institutions operate, collaborate, and manage risk.

The TechEX26 IAM Track invites proposals that showcase real-world experiences, including case studies, architectural patterns, lessons learned, and practical demos that others can apply within their own environments. Submissions are encouraged from a range of roles and experiences across the community—from IAM practitioners and leaders to security partners, architects, engineers, developers, and analysts. As in past years, IAM Track discussions often continue into deeper, community-driven conversations at Advance CAMP (ACAMP), which takes place at the end of the week.
 

Suggested IAM Themes & Topic Areas

The following themes are intended as guidance on the kinds of sessions likely to resonate this year:

• Cloud Identity and Hybrid Environments - Integrating cloud identity platforms with legacy systems and community IAM components, including hybrid architectures, integration patterns, and phased modernization strategies that reduce identity sprawl over time.
• Walled Gardens, Interoperability, and Identity Portability - Navigating increasingly closed vendor ecosystems while preserving interoperability, institutional choice, and the ability to move identities, attributes, and access across platforms, partners, and shared services.
• Next-Generation Federation - What does the future of federation look like as IAM expands beyond SAML? Share your experiences with OpenID Connect, OAuth, decentralized identity, or emerging trust models. How are institutions and service providers evolving federation frameworks, governance, and interoperability for the next generation of identity management?
• IAM as the Security Backbone - Identity is at the core of cybersecurity, and its role continues to expand. How is your institution integrating IAM into security strategies to mitigate evolving threats? Offer your perspectives and experiences - from phishing-resistant MFA, identity proofing, threat detection, zero-trust architecture, risk-based access, to governance frameworks. What strategies balance usability with security? How does your IAM strategy support your overall security posture?
• Identity in a Passwordless and Automated World - How is your institution navigating the shift to passwordless authentication and managing non-human identities? Share your strategies for implementing FIDO2, passkeys, identity proofing, and governance of service accounts, bots, and machine identities. What lessons have you learned about reducing friction, improving security, and adapting to automation-driven IAM models?
• Scaling IAM for Global Research and Education Collaboration - As R&E institutions navigate political shifts, institutional consolidations, and evolving trust frameworks, seamless and secure collaboration has never been more critical. How is your institution leveraging IAM to support multi-institutional collaborations, consortium-based access, and global research initiatives? What are the emerging challenges and solutions in trust, interoperability, and governance across international identity federations? Share your experiences in strengthening identity frameworks, access policies, and federated trust models to support the next generation of global academic collaboration.

Submit Your Proposal

Information Security

We are seeking proposals for Information Security sessions broadly related to the Research & Education community. In the past, “Lessons Learned” presentations about how organizations have improved their security posture have historically been very successful as have presentations on somewhat unusual topics.

New this year! We would like to hear how your institution is addressing emerging information security related topics like:
 

• Crypto agility necessary for institutions to prepare for post-quantum cryptography.
  • What is your institution doing to prepare for identifying and updating your systems?
  • Do you have systems you won’t be able to update that require compensating controls?
• AI related proposals
  • Where are your security teams using AI to improve your information security posture and programs?
  • How has AI saved you time or taken more time than expected to find improvements?
  • How has your team engaged with AI activities in your institution to manage potential risks from AI?
  • How has your institutions performed risk assessments for AI related systems?

The Information Security track has a strong history of network security sessions, but covers all security topics, including (but not limited to):
 

• Common security issues in research and education environments
  • Measuring success with security metrics and benchmark
  • Threat hunting techniques and remediation strategies
  • Assessing the security posture of cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)
  • Dealing with actual or looming ransomware threats
  • Governance, Risk and Compliance considerations: PII, ePHI, GDPR, etc.
  • Supply Chain Risk Management
  • Implementing security controls in SaaS services like GWE, O365, Salesforce, and others
• Analyzing security incidents recently experienced by the community – particularly “lessons learned"
• Promoting security leadership and strengthening the security posture of key global Internet infrastructure
  • Advocating for MANRS adoption and working to ensure routing integrity
  • Experiences with threat modeling of infrastructure
• Addressing the research community’s unique security needs:
  • Understanding and addressing the challenges of network security at high bandwidth
  • Identifying and/or developing new and promising network security tools, particularly tools for collaboratively sharing data about security incidents at scale
  • Balancing “enterprise-like” security on open networks
  • Secure research enclaves where campuses provide computing environments for researchers that meet their security requirements and provide access to computing to support research
• Secure Software Development & DevSecOps Practices
• International security collaboration

Submit Your Proposal