SARA

What SARA does

SARA, operating commercially as SURF (and via subsidiary SURFsara B.V.), is the ICT cooperative of Dutch education and research, founded in 1971 and headquartered in Utrecht with primary data center operations in Amsterdam. The organization was established to aggregate the ICT capabilities and procurement leverage of Dutch universities, universities of applied sciences (hogescholen), university medical centers, research institutes, and MBO (vocational) schools.into a single coordinated infrastructure provider. It operates as a cooperative owned by its member institutions, with 406 employees and no external parent or public listing.

The cooperative's technology portfolio spans identity and access management (SURFconext federated identity, eduID), network connectivity (SURFinternet, eduroam global Wi-Fi roaming, SURFwireless), security services (SURFcert 24/7 incident response, SURFsoc, SURFaudit, Cybersave Yourself, eduVPN), high-performance computing (Snellius national supercomputer, LUMI European pre-exascale participation, HPC Cloud, SURF Research Cloud), storage and data management (SURFdrive, Research Drive, Data Archive, Object Store, Yoda Hosting, dCache), flexible education tools (edubadges, Kies Op Maat, SURFeduhub), and collective procurement (SURFspot, SURFcumulus, SURF Vendor Compliance). SURFsara B.V. operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary focused on research data storage and computation, hosting the SARA-MATRIX grid infrastructure and the Snellius supercomputer.

SURF generates revenue through cooperative membership fees paid by member institutions on a recurring subscription basis, supplemented by managed service revenue from collective ICT procurement activities (administrative fees and negotiated vendor arrangements). Specific pricing is not publicly disclosed as it is negotiated through the cooperative membership structure. Distribution is exclusively direct to member institutions; the cooperative does not sell through commercial channels. Go-to-market is community-led, relying on 33+ professional communities with 8,500+ members, annual conferences (SURF Onderwijsdagen, SURF Summit, SURF Research Day, SURF Security & Privacy Conference), quarterly SURF Magazine, the Tech Trends report, and the Think Tank on Digital Transition to drive adoption and sector-wide agenda setting.

Name

SARA

Legal name

SURF B.V.

Website

https://surfsara.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

SURF (SURFsara) is the Dutch ICT cooperative powering education and research with national infrastructure including identity federation, networking, security, high-performance computing (Snellius), storage, and collective procurement for universities, hogescholen, university medical centers, research institutes, and MBO schools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research Computing and ICT Infrastructure

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Single Sign-On (SSO) & Federation (BPAMAEAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Privileged Access Management (PAM) (BPAMAEAD), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (HDAEAJAD)

Keywords

• High-performance computing
• Research data storage
• Identity management services
• Education ICT infrastructure
• Cybersecurity services

Headquarters

HQ city

Utrecht

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Cooperative Membership Fees: SURF is structured as a cooperative of educational and research institutions. Institutions (universities, hbo, university medical centers, research institutes, MBO schools) pay membership fees to access shared ICT infrastructure, services, and collective procurement. Revenue is generated through annual contributions from member institutions, with services co-developed and co-funded by the community. The cooperative model enables collective purchasing power and shared investment in ICT innovation for the sector.
2. ICT Procurement & Distribution Services: SURF facilitates collective procurement of ICT hardware and software for member institutions, including services such as SURFspot (procurement portal), ICT procurement advisory, content procurement, and SURF Vendor Compliance. While the primary benefit is cost reduction through collective buying, SURF generates service revenue through administrative fees and negotiated vendor arrangements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels14 records

Core offering

SARA (operating as SURFsara B.V.) is the ICT research infrastructure arm of the SURF cooperative for Dutch education and research. It delivers high-performance computing via the national supercomputer (Snellius), HPC Cloud, SURF Research Cloud, federated identity management (SURFconext, eduID), network connectivity (eduroam, SURFwireless), secure storage and data management (SURFdrive, Research Drive, Data Archive, Yoda Hosting), and 24/7 security incident response (SURFcert, SURFsoc) for member institutions.

Product overview

SURF is the ICT cooperative organization for education and research in the Netherlands, offering a comprehensive suite of digital services across multiple domains. The portfolio includes identity and access management services (edu.nl, eduID, SURFconext, SURF Research Access Management), security solutions (eduVPN, OZON/NOZON, SURFcert, SURFsoc, Cybersave Yourself), network connectivity (eduroam, SURFfirewall, SURFwireless, Internet, EVPN), storage and data management (SURFdrive, Research Drive, Data Archive, Object Store, dCache, Yoda Hosting), compute services (Snellius national supercomputer, HPC Cloud, LUMI, SURF Research Cloud), flexible education tools (edubadges, Kies Op Maat, SURFeduhub, eduXchange pilot), publishing services (SURF Data Repository, SURFsharekit, CopyrightCheck, Persistent Identifiers), procurement services (SURFspot, SURFcumulus, SURF Vendor Compliance), and networking infrastructure for Dutch educational institutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SURFsara: Research data storage and compute services subsidiary operating the national supercomputer Snellius and grid services (SARA-MATRIX)
• Snellius
• eduID
• SURFconext
• eduroam
• SURFspot
• SURFdrive
• Yellenge

Products and services

• Snellius National Supercomputer

Quantifiable outcome

• 36 SURF members achieved lower PC hardware costs through collective procurement compared to individual purchasing
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature12 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NpulscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNpuls is a Nationaalgroeifonds (National Growth Fund) program for which SURF shares responsibility alongside the MBO Raad (MBO Council) and Vereniging Hogescholen (Association of Universities of Applied Sciences). Npuls focuses on digital transformation and innovation across Dutch vocational and higher education, representing a multi-year strategic investment in the sector's digital future.
• MBO Raad (MBO Council)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe MBO Raad represents Dutch MBO (vocational education) institutions and collaborates with SURF on the Npuls program and broader digital transformation initiatives for vocational education.
• Vereniging Hogescholen (Association of Universities of Applied Sciences)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVereniging Hogescholen represents Dutch universities of applied sciences (hbo) and collaborates with SURF on the Npuls program and digital strategy initiatives including the Digital Strategy for hbo and Digitalisation Route for mbo.
• SCIPR CommunityminorOthersSCIPR (SURF Community for Information Security and Privacy) is the community of information security officers and privacy officers in education. Members collaborate on policy and guidelines to improve information security and privacy at member institutions.
• SCIRT CommunityminorOthersSCIRT (SURF Community of Incident Response Teams) is the community for operational security experts. Members discuss current security challenges and exchange tips & tricks with peers, coordinated with SURFcert.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Market position

Competitive moat6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xbsky.app/profile/itcooperativesurf.bsky.social
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/StichtingSURF
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sara

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SARA