Should my agency consider using cloud computing?

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos on Cloud Computing

By G C Network | June 18, 2008

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos on Cloud Computing How and when Amazon began its cloud computing effort.Why Amazon has become an innovator with Amazon Web Services and how it relates to their…

Dataline, IBM, Google, Northrop Grumman on Cloud Computing

By G C Network | June 17, 2008

My company, Dataline LLC, in cooperation with IBM, Google and Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, is sponsoring an educational series entitled “Cloud Computing in a Netcentric Environment“. The series will be…

EMC Studies Cloud Computing Security

By G C Network | June 17, 2008

Storage firm EMC has joined the Daoli Trusted Infrastructure Project which conducts research into “trust and assurance” in cloud computing environments. The team’s research will focus on cloud computing, trusted…

The Cloud Computing Marketplace

By G C Network | June 17, 2008

For explaination and details see Understanding the Cloud Computing/SaaS/PaaS markets: a Map of the Players in the Industry by Peter Laird, Kent Dickson, and Steve Bobrowski from Oracle. Update: Please…

Key cloud computing concerns by CXO’s

By G C Network | June 16, 2008

Key cloud computing concerns by CXO’s attending the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston were addresed in a June 9th panel of executives from Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Salesforce.com.…

IBM Cloud Computing Center

By G C Network | June 13, 2008

On June 5th, IBM announced it will establish the first Cloud Computing Center for software companies in China, which will be situated at the new Wuxi Tai Hu New Town…

EUCALYPTUS – An Open Source Cloud Computing Platform

By G C Network | June 13, 2008

Elastic Utility Computing Architecture for Linking Your Programs To Useful Systems (EUCALYPTUS) is a new project that seems to be trying to put an “open source” flavor to cloud computing.…

The Honorable John G. Grimes Speaks about Cloud Computing

By G C Network | June 12, 2008

Today I had the pleasure of hearing The Honorable John G. Grimes, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Intergration and Department of Defense CIO, speak on some key…

Amazon leads Google into the cloud (So what else is new)

By G C Network | June 12, 2008

In this May 1, 2008 Globe and Mail Update article, Mathew Ingram provides an excellent comparison of Amazon and Google’s cloud computing initiatives. Bottom line: Amazon leads the pack with…

Web 2.0 Expo – What is Cloud Computing?

By G C Network | June 11, 2008

For some interesting views, take a look at these video interviews on what is cloud computing. These were done during the recent Web 2.0 Expo, April 22-25 in San Francisco,…

This is clearly the question on the minds and lips of every government IT decsionmaker in town. Why should a government agency even consider cloud computing?  In reality, the decision process is no different than any other IT management decision, “Cloud IT” options should be compared to “Traditional IT” approaches. As Frank Gens of IDC alluded to when he framed the cloud opportunity for IT suppliers, agencies have four options when deciding if and how to improve their IT infrastructure.

  • “Traditional IT” products and services to enhance traditional agency services;
  • “Cloud IT” products and services to enhance traditional agency services;
  • Traditional IT” products and services to create agency specific cloud services; and
  • “Cloud IT” products and services to create agency specific cloud services.

In a ZDnet blog post that compared traditional with cloud IT, Dion Hinchcliffe summarized the differences as shown in the table below.

 

Traditional IT

Cloud IT

Design Approach

Proprietary, customized

Standardized

Economy of Scale

Organizational

Ecosystem

Control

Full

Partial

Security

Most secure

Secure

Capacity

Limited

Nearly unlimited

Infrastructure

Dedicated

Shared

 

Any decision process must take into account the agency’s mission goals, the specific agency function being addressed and the current IT infrastructure. From a mission point of view, the comparison factors listed above can be addressed using six straight-forward yes/no questions:

  • Can this function within the agency’s mission be accomplished with the use of standard IT components or are proprietary or customized components necessary?

– Yes, “Cloud IT” is an option

– No, “Traditional IT” approach may be required

  • In anticipating future functional requirements, do the investments required and value obtained by letting the agency develop technical improvements outweigh the investment savings and time lost in leveraging technical improvement from an industry ecosystem?

– Yes, “Traditional IT” may be required

– No, “Cloud IT” is an option

  • In view of agency mission objectives, is full control of all IT resources required to complete this function?

– Yes, “Traditional IT” may be required

– No, “Cloud IT” is an option

  • Is the level of security afforded by generally accepted commercial practices acceptable in accomplishing this specific agency function?

– Yes, “Cloud IT” is an option

– No, “Traditional IT” may be required

  • In executing this function during surge or peak situations, would capacity limitation severely affect agency mission accomplishment?

– Yes, “Cloud IT” should be considered as an option

– No, “Traditional IT” may be desirable

  • In view of agency mission objectives, is a dedicated IT infrastructure required to complete this function?

– Yes, “Traditional IT” may be required

– No, “Cloud IT” is an option

By weighing each factor and answering these questions,  could this framework help in discussing the use of “Traditional IT” versus “Cloud IT”?

What do you think?

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