Cutting Government Spending With Cloud Computing

The New York Times recently reported that the federal government plans to eliminate 40 percent of its computer centers in the then and there four years. The goal is to reduce research costs and update the way it uses computers to manage data and provide services.

In short, the government wants to implement cloud computing networks to save money on expensive physical data centers. The federal government spends about $80 billion on information research each year.

According to Vivek Kundra, Chief Information Officer for the federal government, about $5 billion could be saved annually by moving to cloud networks.

2009 report

A 2009 report by Booz Allen Hamilton concluded that the total life-cycle cost of cloud servers "may be 66 percent lower than maintaining a traditional data center." This cost-cutting endeavor is likely to be a bonanza for IT companies within the cloud computing industry.

Obviously the agencies at the top of the spending tree just as the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Defense would require more secure cloud-based networks.

Google’s Enterprise Apps and Microsoft’s Office 365 are very similar cloud computing platforms for sharing documents and communicating through email. It’ll be interesting to see if either service emerges as superior or if they continue to mutually coexist as rivals.