Page 58 - FCW, July/August 2018

CLOUD
AS GOVERNMENT AGENCIES work toward modernizing and transforming their IT departments, the one constant amid all the change is cloud. The technology is the keystone of these massive under- takings because of its ability to help agencies operate more efficiently and innovate easily. With almost half of agencies already using cloud technology, according to research firm Gartner, the focus is shifting from adopting to optimizing cloud resources.
In the beginning, the cloud was uncharted territory “with many unknowns looming,” the General Services Administration’s 2017 Hybrid Cloud Almanac states. “As innovators forged ahead, a robust library of lessons learned [has] been developed. There is now a proven roadmap to cloud implementation, solid use cases and answers to all previous concerns such as security.”
Gartner has called the technology “one of the most disruptive forces of IT spending since the early days of the Digital Age.” In fact, IDC predicts that federal government spending on cloud technology will increase from $2.6 billion in 2016 to almost $3.3 billion in 2021, and a MeriTalk report states that the return on investment could be a savings of $20.5 billion a year.
What’s more, the cloud is enabling agencies to make use of technologies that used to seem like the stuff of science fiction. Analysts at Govini say NASA and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security are leading the way with innovations driven
by the internet of things. For instance, the military is looking to
The increasingly sophisticated technology has become a key building block for IT modernization
biosensors to reduce the deaths of service members during training by tracking vital signs such as heart rate and blood pressure, while NASA has established a lab at Johnson Space Center to test IoT devices, create visualizations and study security.
Cloud-optimized resources don’t only benefit federal agencies, however. State and local governments are relying on them, too. In Mississippi, for example, residents can use Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant to get information about government services such as tax payments and vehicle registrations.
A brief history of cloud adoption
Former U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra initiated the cloud push when he issued the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy in 2011. It requires government agencies to “evaluate safe, secure cloud computing options before making any new investments.”
Recognizing the gargantuan effort involved in such an IT shift, many subsequent initiatives have emerged in support of cloud adoption and now optimization. For instance, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, launched in 2012, provides a standardized approach to assessing security and authorizing the use of specific cloud products at low, moderate and high levels depending on the resources that agencies need to safeguard.
Last year saw a big push toward cloud technology. GSA’s Federal Cloud Center of Excellence held its first meeting to assist agencies
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FCW Staff