Cloud is an old, tired debate. It's sort of done. Everyone's moving in that direction. It's a one-way street. The more interesting question is: So now you've abstracted your core infrastructure -- let's say you're in the cloud -- what is the real transformation point? It's not technology for technology's sake. And that's where the social revolution comes in.
On time and on budget, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Google executives today celebrated Pittsburgh government’s successful transition to Google Apps for Government. In less than four months, nearly 3,000 City employees made the switch from Microsoft Exchange email to a Google-operated email and communication system that will save the City about 25 percent in annual email support costs and make employees more efficient. In addition, employees now have shorter, more customer-friendly email addresses, 500 times more email capacity and IT personnel no longer have to spend time on server management and maintenance.
According to the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, State is expected to spend approximately $1B on cloud computing.
Cloud computing represents a fundamentally different way for government to architect computing resources. It allows CIOs to leverage powerful IT infrastructures in a fraction of the time it takes to provision, develop and deploy similar assets in-house.
The cost saving potential is huge. Adopting cloud technologies eliminates capital and operational expenses associated with servers, software licenses, maintenance fees, data center space and the employment of IT personnel. Thanks to the cloud, government won't be stuck with obsolete legacy systems and outdated hardware that require expensive maintenance.
Today’s announcement by USDA is somewhat of a landmark in the world of open government, as they will become the first cabinet-level agency to embrace and deploy cloud computing technology for e-mail and collaboration. Cloud computing, along with “open data,” social media, and mobile technology, is one of the areas of rapid change that governments are racing to take advantage of under a mandate of transparency, collaboration, and participation.
Treasury is now the first cabinet-level agency to have its website fully hosted in a public “cloud,” a substantially more cost-efficient hosting solution.
I love Dropbox. I cannot recommend it highly enough. (Though if you sign up, be sure and use this link to give us both free extra storage space :)
I thought I was "hacking" Dropbox, by keeping my iTunes library in it. Turns out, lots of applications are embracing running directly in the cloud: https://www.dropbox.com/appsThe U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) today announced its decision to move 17,000 employees and contractors to Google Apps for Government.
