State plans to hike cloud spending

The State Department wants to invest about $22 million more in information research this year, according to justification documents accompanying President Obama's proposed fiscal 2013 budget.

The largest share of that increase

By far the largest share of that increase would go to cloud computing initiatives, including building a "private cloud" for internal use and a "community cloud" for interagency and external collaboration. The increase in cloud funding totals about $26 million, which would be offset by cuts elsewhere in the department's IT budget.

The cloud budget request is $140 million, up from $114 million in fiscal 2012. About $9 million of that cloud funding will go to establishing an initial version of the Foreign Affairs Network, effectively a cloud service that other federal agencies just as the Agriculture and Treasury departments can use to support their overseas operations.