Government services need to pilot cloud computing if they want to save money, according to one media expert.

The growth in cloud computing is partly being driven by the greater uptake of broadband services.

Last week Gartner published a report highlighting the cost-effectiveness of using cloud computing solutions in the public sector.

According to the technology research and advisory company, the government should be willing to take a short-term risk in trying out such services.

Community source and the cloud could also be used to first work with non-mission-critical applications and then applied to more sensitive products.

Commenting on the paper, IDC's cloud services research manager David Bradshaw said that the move to cloud services could alleviate the public sector from some responsibilities.

IDC specialises in providing market intelligence and advisory services.

Mr Bradshaw said: "The public cloud allows organisations to displace a problem and shift it into the cloud.

"In a sense, they have a third-party which would then, for example, run their financial system, so they are not then responsible for that IT equipment."

He added reducing concerns about technical aspects of the equipment is one way to focus on orchestrating usage and achieving maximum cost-effectiveness.

Risk over data security has been one major factor that has prevented the public sector from dispensing with their own equipment.

Writing in this month's Security Intelligence, expert Dan Raywood compared the values of a cloud computing service to that of a bank.

Three of the main features that a bank has to offer include "accountability", "heavy regulation" and "surviving the test of history".

These parallels could provide another way for the public sector to think about the idea of using cloud-based services. 

 


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Heading


IDC: Organisations can "displace" IT problems using public cloud


Date


20/08/2010
 

 

 

 


 

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