Given the announcement of COVID-19 as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation and the virus’ impact on our global research and education communities, we would like to inform you of the actions AAF has taken to ensure our business can continue to support your teaching, learning and research needs. Despite the uncertainty of COVID-19, we intend to continue to deliver the same quality of technical and customer service to you. The following measures are now in place to ensure continuity of our service.

Availability of our Teams

The AAF is a dynamic team with the capability for employees to work remotely while supporting our customers. As the AAF is a national organisation all AAF employees are equipped to seamlessly and securely connect, while working remotely at any time. We feel confident in our ability to continue to support your identity, access and authentication needs, regardless of our physical work locations.

Availability of our Technology

The AAF Technology is architected to be highly available, automated and monitored daily to ensure we meet the needs of our subscribers and respond to any issues in a timely and efficient manner.

Rapid Identity Provider – AAF Cloud Service

Subscribers using the AAF’s cloud-based Identity Provider (IdP) service called Rapid IdP will receive continued support during this period.

For subscribers not yet using Rapid IdP, the service can eliminate single points of failure for connecting to the federation. Rapid IdP is supported by Shibboleth experts who configure and secure the IdP on your behalf. AAF manage all aspects of the deployment and configuration for you, so the server is always at the latest appropriate version. Rapid IdP is in a high availability and fully backed up configuration that undergoes annual penetration testing, including an assessment of common vulnerabilities. Should you need further information please contact [email protected] 

ORCID

Working with ORCID ORCID have advised us that they are continuing to operate out of their virtual offices on every continent and as such they are well positioned to serve the community during this time. Researchers will continue to access the Registry as normal, member integrations will continue to work as normal, and the ORCID support desk will remain in operation as normal.

For more information visit the ORCID blog.

Support

The AAF Support Team will continue to be your first point of contact during this time. The Support Team is available during business hours (Monday-Friday 8am – 4pm AEST exclusive Queensland public holidays) and is a single point of contact for getting in touch with the AAF Team. If you are experiencing issues, need assistance with any of our services and tools, or need support within your environments, please contact AAF Support. 

Furthermore, if you require any urgent assistance with trust and identity in general as a result of the outbreak, AAF staff are readily available for consultation.

We are grateful for your continued support during this difficult time and are committed to ensuring your use of the AAF and its services continues to operate seamlessly.