However, a private or community cloud model can deliver the benefits of cloud computing while maintaining security and c
Smarter government for a smarter planet
Private and community clouds deliver speed and efficiency for the public sector while maintaining security and control Our interconnected society and its technologically advanced citizens place demands on governments that they will struggle to answer if they rely on traditional IT procurement and delivery models. State and federal governments are constantly seeking more efficient ways to deliver services to citizens and make better use of their information assets. Information is locked away within individual agency silos, often on incompatible systems. They face the pressure of rising costs associated with managing and maintaining these systems. Building the technology infrastructure to overcome these obstacles – if we do things the old way – could take months, even years. This is not fast enough – for government agencies, politicians or citizens. To address similar issues of agility and cost, many private-sector organisations have turned to cloud computing. Cloud computing reduces the costs and time-to-value of delivering technology systems.
Governments often say they can’t use this model, because they have much stricter security and privacy requirements than the private sector. However, a private or community cloud model can deliver the benefits of cloud computing while maintaining security and control. In a private cloud architecture, the entire system is designed and operated for one organisation. Government agencies can have their private cloud infrastructure located onsite or at a third-party data centre, and managed under their rules. For example, IBM® is building a private cloud network security and analytics system for the United States Air Force. This will defend against threats such as cyber attacks and system failures, automatically preventing disruption to critical military services. To work across the Air Force’s nine major commands, nearly 100 bases and 700,000 military personnel, IBM had to meet the US military’s rigorous security standards.
A community cloud infrastructure is shared by several related organisations. They can spread the costs, while efficiently collaborating on common data and combined projects. The State of New York in the United States is building a community cloud infrastructure for state and local government organisations. These agencies’ applications will be able to access common data from a single source and share information with each other. As a result, citizens will have access to integrated public services, while the government agencies can increase efficiency and reduce costs. Other government organisations are finding some imaginative uses for cloud computing. For example, the education department in Pike County, North Carolina, in the United States, built a virtual desktop cloud infrastructure for 10,000 students. Students now have a high-performance computing environment with uninterrupted access to learning materials on the district’s web portal, while the education department can keep using its older PCs to reduce hardware refresh costs.
Because the desktops are delivered virtually from a central location, the department can instantly update its course materials. This used to take more than a year, because department staff would have to install new software on each PC. The city of Wuxi in south-eastern China has built a cloud services factory, which provides computing resources over the web to small and medium-sized software development companies. These companies can design, test and develop software without having to build and manage their own infrastructure. As a result, the city is developing a thriving software industry which will be an engine for economic growth. Governments around the world are already using cloud computing to deliver services faster and more efficiently. Isn’t it time you took a serious look at cloud computing? For more information Visit us at ibm.com/systems/au/cloud or alternatively contact your local IBM Client Representative.
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