Government could save billions with cloud computing

DISA Chief Technologist States Plan for Cloud

By G C Network | September 23, 2008

In an interview reported on in this month’s Military Information Technology magazine, David Mihelcic, DISA Chief Technology Officer, has laid out his goal for the agency’s cloud computing initiative. As…

Google, GeoEye, Twitter. What a Combination!

By G C Network | September 23, 2008

On September 9th, Bob Lozano posted his kudos to GeoEye for a successful launch of GeoEye-1. (Hey Bob! Where’s that post on your “cloud failure” last week?) According to their…

RightScale goes Transcloud

By G C Network | September 22, 2008

Over the weekend, Maureen O’Gara of SYS-CON media reported that RightScale is now offering a “first in industry” capability to provide application management across multiple cloud infrastructures. It now offers…

A Bill to Outlaw Cloud Computing…..

By G C Network | September 19, 2008

… is what we may see if we don’t educate our lawmakers now! That seemed to be one of the main point at last week’s Google workshop in DC. Berin…

NCOIC and Cloud Computing

By G C Network | September 18, 2008

Yesterday the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) had a very good session on cloud computing during their plenary session in Falls Church, VA. Led by NCOIC’s Bob Marcus, speakers…

Military Information Technology Cloud Computing Collaboration

By G C Network | September 17, 2008

Today, we’re happy to announce what we believe to be an industry first. “Military Information Technology Magazine“, as the publication of record for the defense information technology community, is collaborating…

Is 99.999% reliability good enough?

By G C Network | September 16, 2008

According to Reuven Cohen in his recent post, Cloud Failure: The Myth of Nines , the whole concept of reliability may be meaningless. “In the case of a physical failure…

You Probably Use Cloud Computing Already.

By G C Network | September 15, 2008

56% of internet users use webmail services such as Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo! Mail. 34% store personal photos online. 29% use online applications such as Google Documents or Adobe Photoshop…

20 Real-Life Challenges of Cloud Computing

By G C Network | September 12, 2008

Nikita Ivanov of GridGain offers some excellent insight into the nuts and bolts of getting the cloud to work. Definitely worth a read. To summarize: Most likely you do NOT…

3Tera Announces Global Cloud Services

By G C Network | September 11, 2008

Last week, 3Tera has announced the availability of global cloud services, based on their AppLogic grid operating system. 3Tera is currently running data centers in seven countries (United States, Japan,…

In a recent study, published by MeriTalk, Red Hat and DLT Solutions, the Federal government could save $6.6 billion by using cloud computing or software-as-a-service.

“Looking at 30 federal agencies, the study assumes every agency is starting from scratch with new technology. So instead of buying new software, agencies could save money using open-source instead of proprietary software, virtualization technologies instead of new servers, and cloud computing instead of buying software and hardware.

The numbers are based on federal agency budgets, using assumptions from other studies about federal computing resources.”

Peter Tseronis, deputy associate chief information officer for the US Department of Energy commented on the study saying that even though critics may be able to quibble with the numbers, the big message is that federal agencies should be looking at new ways to save money with IT investments.

My personal recommendation to those agencies considering cloud computing solutions would be for them to send a representative to play in the Cloud Computing Wargame at this year’s FOSE 2009 convention. This not only presents information on the technology, but it also provides a “no risk” means of comparing cloud computing options to more traditional IT approaches.

Reservations are required to participate in the wargame. Online registration is available or you can contact the registrar at 800-746-0099 or by email at [email protected]. There will also be a Cloud Computing Capstone Event on Wednesday, March 11th from 4:30-5:30 pm. The Capstone Event will feature a panel discussion announcement of wargame winners and review of lessons learned.

Space is limited so please make your reservations today. Wargame session schedule is listed below.

Tuesday March 10th

  • Session 1: 10:30 – 12:00
  • Session 2: 12:30 – 2:00
  • Session 3: 2:30 – 4:00

Wednesday March 11th

  • Session 1: 10:30 – 12:00 (DoD Theme)
  • Session 2: 12:30 – 2:00 (Intel Theme)
  • Session 3: 2:30 – 4:00 (Civil & Healthcare Theme)

Thursday March 12th

  • Session 1: 10:30 – 12:00
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