Texas Cloud Computing Lessons Learned

One AWESOME Week of Cloud Computing

By G C Network | June 11, 2010

We just finished up five AWESOME days of cloud computing training with USAREUR in Schwetzingen, Germany ! CHECK IT OUT !! Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com. Sure we…

NGA Exploring “Community Cloud” With NCOIC

By G C Network | June 7, 2010

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is looking to leverage industry expertise through collaboration with the Network Centic Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC). NGA provides timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in…

DoD, NASA and GSA Address Secure Cloud Computing

By G C Network | May 29, 2010

On Thursday, May 26th, the Federal Executive Forum featured three important Federal cloud computing leaders: David McClure- Associate Administrator, GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications Col. Kevin Foster- Office of…

Cloud Computing Day at DoDIIS

By G C Network | May 25, 2010

I’m declaring Monday, May 24th, as Cloud Computing Day at DoDIIS.  Lieutenant General Richard Zahner, Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G2, seemed to get things going with his video that…

Vivek Kundra – State of Public Sector Cloud Computing

By G C Network | May 25, 2010

Last week Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra release his report on the “State of Public Sector Cloud Computing”. The report not only details Federal budget guidance issued to agencies…

Cloud Computing at DoDIIS

By G C Network | May 18, 2010

Next week in Phoenix, AZ, the Defense Intelligence Agency will host the 2010 Department of Defense Intelligence Information Systems (DoDIIS) Worldwide Conference. The theme of this event is “Mission Powered…

Open Group Publishes Guidelines on Cloud Computing ROI

By G C Network | April 29, 2010

In an important industry contribution, The Open Group has published a white paper on how to build and measure cloud computing return on investment (ROI). Produced by the Cloud Business…

The Army’s iPhone Story

By G C Network | April 15, 2010

Sandra Erwin of National Defense magazine just published an excellent article on the Army’s foray into developing soldier-friendly smartphone applications.  Giving credit to Army CIO Lt. Gen, Jeffrey Sorenson and…

Vivek Kundra Steps Up to Cloud Computing’s Next Challenge

By G C Network | April 11, 2010

” [C]loud customers must be able to easily store, access, and process data across multiple clouds; weave together a mesh of different services to meet their needs; and have a…

Cloud Computing’s Next Challenge

By G C Network | March 26, 2010

Earlier this month, Melvin Greer and I teamed up on a Military Information Technology piece. Melvin is a senior research engineer and cloud computing chief architect at Lockheed Martin, and…

Late last week  the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) released an important whitepaper that reviewed it’s multi-year Pilot Texas Cloud Offering (PTCO). This project was designed to allow a small group of agencies to choose a virtual private cloud-based infrastructure as a service from a marketplace of service providers made available by a cloud broker. For this project, Texas DIR selected Gravitant and it’s cloudMatrix technology. Gravitant’s self-service web portal, Texas Cloud Self-Service Portal (TCSP), allowed participating agencies to manage and support all phases of the engagement from solutioning to provisioning, operations and capacity management, and decommissioning. Gravitant also provided extensive architecture and solution support. Gravitant, as the cloud broker, established, negotiated, and governed the reseller agreements with the individual cloud service providers. They maintained a catalog of services, line items, and prices associated with each provider, which enabled them to facilitate cloud provisioning across multiple providers—a key feature for government agencies.

This approach was selected as it maximized the opportunity to produce the broadest spectrum of experiences for customers. The cloudMatrix software helped to normalize the multiple services available, creating an “apples-to-apples” comparison in pricing and functionality as much as possible. In addition, this solution provided a single, unified web interface for end users to design, procure, provision, monitor, and govern the services. The PTCO allowed DIR and the pilot agencies to a gain a greater understanding of cloud infrastructure offerings for state government and document options and issues with provider selection, pricing, access security, data security, credentialing, provisioning time frames, service levels, service remedy options, terms of use, billing models, interoperability, mobility, scalability, capacity management, provider compliance, and monitoring and licensing.

As far as I know, the PTCO represents the only proven operational model of the cloud brokerage concept deployed within a government setting. Among the lessons learned, this project showed that the use of a cloud broker can:

  • Help government agencies screen their applications for cloud feasibility and prioritizing cloud migrations accordingly;
  • Address the challenges of cloud model comparisons due to the variables in product offerings, including the business models, service levels, and package inclusions;
  • Translate capacity requirements into provider line items, thus allowing for accurate estimation of cloud cost;
  • Provide a cloud service order review or approval workflow facility, a function not normally provided by cloud service providers; and
  • Provide a means to regulate payment across multiple government entities.

If you are interested in learning more about the results of this pilot project, download the complete report at https://www.slideshare.net/kvjacksn/pilot-texas-cloud-offering.

NJVC is partnering with Gravitant to bring this advance cloud brokerage technology to the federal marketplace.

Bookmark and Share

Cloud Musings on Forbes

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2012)

Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson
Posted in

G C Network

14 Comments

  1. Mike Bishop7 on August 21, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    Great post! I have been reading blog posts on cloud services all morning because I have heard so much about it lately on TV and online. I'm going to make sure to share this with my coworkers and friends who have also been talking about cloud services. Thank you for sharing this with us Keith!



  2. cloud solutions on September 5, 2012 at 5:53 am

    Excellent post, I will be checking back regularly to look for updates.



  3. cloud ways on September 5, 2012 at 7:49 am

    Cloud Computing Really Works and What are its Benefits for Ordinary Users is really impressive. The benifts of cloud computing are explained in such a easy manner. Ordinary users will surely implement cloud computing with help of this blog. Thanks for sharing such valuable information.

    Cloud For Developers I Cloud Control I Managed Cloud Solution



  4. jack will on September 8, 2012 at 5:41 am

    Pinnacle wetstock monitoring, analysis and loss investigation service is the most effective way to detect and eliminate fuel loss, reduce costs and meet environmental and regulatory compliance.Here you can get top level of service which you want.Pinnacle wetstock monitoring are an independent centralized, scalable and proactive tank leak detection and monitoring service.
    We also provide best the best wetstock management service efficiently and cost effectively through the use of the latest technology.For more information Please visite our website: Click Here



  5. Foot Solution on October 23, 2012 at 1:03 pm

    Services you are offering are pretty good!

    cloud computing services



  6. CloudWays on November 14, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    Cloud Computing is an application that is currently being adopted by the corporate biggies and small business alike, to reduce the hassles of installing software suites.

    Drupal Hosting I Pligg Hosting



  7. Cloud Phone Systems on November 15, 2012 at 6:11 am

    Cloud computing is rapidly growing in popularity and general awareness, to a point where businesses of all sizes are looking into whether the medium is appropriate for their needs. So, what sort of businesses can cloud hosting effectively and securely handle.



  8. Email archiving appliance on November 20, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    Cloud computing is the future and it saves time and money.



  9. John Moran on November 26, 2012 at 9:00 am

    This comment has been removed by the author.



  10. F. Humphrey on January 18, 2013 at 11:30 am

    Hey! I just saw that your Rss feed of this website is working without any failures, did you somehow complete all the options by yourself or you used the default settings of the widget?



  11. RIAZ UDDIN on January 23, 2013 at 10:18 am

    Thanks to share this information.You have to know more that iTech is a strategic and successful tool for online businesses and professional service companies.iTech Solution offers Cloud Services.Add versatility to your company with Cloud Hosting, Storage, Servers, Apps and more.



  12. Ammar Naeem on January 24, 2013 at 7:35 am

    Cloud Computing is still needs to be identified. There is quite alot to acquire from this reliable and scalable technology. Get the best cloud providers in the Industry to re engineer your IT structure
    Cloud Reviews



  13. Mike on March 21, 2013 at 10:39 am

    Cloud Computing has been growing and creating huge impact on the business growth and specially on IT infrastructure. It is rapidly growing in popularity and general awareness. Cloud computing is very similar to grid computing.
    Cloud expert



  14. Jackie O'Brien on July 19, 2013 at 7:03 pm

    Very interesting article, thanks for sharing. If anyone is interested in IT infrastructure improvement via cloud-based optimization software, be sure to take a look at AlphaPoint's ITAM solution for IT infrastructure management. Cloud-based software that can take an organization to the next level.