Explore How the New Service With CertiNext Advances Automation, Streamlines Offerings, and Supports Operational Efficiency for IT Teams
Internet2 recently announced the new InCommon Certificate Service with CertiNext, marking the culmination of a multiyear, community-driven effort to modernize certificate management for the research and higher education (R&E) community. The service transition began on April 7 and will conclude on July 17, 2026.
CertiNext, a well-known provider in the Interoperable Global Trust Federation (IGTF) and broader certificate industry, was selected following a rigorous assessment of potential providers against technical performance, platform resilience, service reliability, and security compliance requirements.
Shaped by input from the Certificate Service Redesign Group, a subscriber survey, and in-depth stakeholder interviews, the new service is purpose-built for the R&E community. Unlimited TLS and IGTF certificates remain the core of the service, while advanced automation, greater delegation, and enhanced discovery capabilities better serve current needs and position the service for the future.
To explore how the community is moving forward together with the modernized InCommon Certificate Service, we spoke with Christopher Misra, vice chancellor and chief information officer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and chair of the InCommon Steering Committee. In this Q&A, he shares what IT leaders at subscribing organizations can expect and how to support a successful transition.
Q&A with Christopher Misra: ‘The Key Word Is Automation’
Christopher Misra: The most important thing to understand is that certificate services are foundational infrastructure. They are not especially visible to most people on campus, but if they fail, the impact is immediate and widespread. In that sense, this transition is about modernizing one of those critical behind-the-scenes services that a great deal of campus technology depends on.
What is staying the same is just as important as what is changing. InCommon will continue to provide a certificate service designed for the research and education community, with a consistent cost structure and support model aligned to higher education’s needs. What is changing is the platform and the operational capability around it. The new service brings stronger automation, better delegation, and improved visibility — all of which reflect how institutions are using certificate services today.
For me, the key word is automation. This is a necessary step toward a more modern certificate management model that will better support institutions as expectations around security, scale, and lifecycle management continue to evolve.
Christopher Misra: The biggest benefit is automation, and with that comes future-readiness. Across the broader internet ecosystem, certificate validity periods are shrinking, which means institutions are being pushed toward more automated certificate management whether they are ready or not. In that context, this transition puts the right operational foundation in place for a future that’s around the corner.
The practical impact for institutions will be better visibility into certificate lifecycles, less manual effort for campus IT teams, and a more sustainable way to manage a service that touches a large amount of infrastructure. Once you build the automation to handle certificate issuance and replacement well, you are not only better positioned for changing validity windows but also for future security shifts that may require institutions to rotate keys and algorithms more quickly.
In other words, the value is efficiency, reduced risk, better operational resilience, and the ability to redirect staff time toward higher-value campus priorities instead of repetitive manual work.
Christopher Misra: I think about this in two parts.
First, there is a skills and capacity issue. The ability to build and manage automation is no longer optional for IT organizations. Whether the immediate need is certificate management, cloud operations, or something else entirely, these are capabilities institutions need in order to scale and stay effective.
Second, there is the reality of the timeline. This is a significant transition on an ambitious schedule, and the people who understand how critical it is are often a relatively small group of technologists carrying a great deal of responsibility.
My advice to other CIOs is to treat this as both a technical and leadership issue. Raise awareness early with your IAM, security, networking, and research IT teams, and make sure campus leadership understands that this is one of those infrastructure changes that may not be glamorous, but will be very visible if it goes badly.
InCommon has also put together a thoughtful transition toolkit, webinars, and supporting resources, and I would strongly encourage institutions to use them. I think they’ve done a good job surfacing the right information and materials, and that community support is one of InCommon’s biggest strengths.
Looking for more resources and FAQs?
InCommon has assembled training and a support toolkit to guide subscribers through every step of the transition. Visit the InCommon Certificate Service Transition page for resources and answers to frequently asked questions.
Download the InCommon Certificate Service Executive Briefing
