opinion
cloud computing
party run their infrastructure. A recent Ernst & Young survey showed that more than 70 percent of India’s IT infrastructure companies will go big on the cloud in the next two or three years. The Indian government can also be expected to draw on the potential of the cloud. Recessionary Trends and Outsourced Service Offerings: But just what is cloud computing all about and what are its key benefits for pubic and private sector entities? It is an OpExbased business model that was born when organisations began to feel that they did not need expensive infrastructure, only the services they deliver. This makes economic sense now more than ever with recessionary trends having become increasingly cyclical and making even large organisations revisit their strategies as the benefits of renting, not owning, services/infrastructure outweigh the risks. The result is a wave of outsourced service offerings such as Communication as a Service (telephony, email), Infrastructure as a Service and Software as a Service. As the haze over this new-generation evolution has begun to clear, you can now get Anything as a Service ((AaaS). Benefits for Governments and Businesses: The game-changing cloud features location-independence and gives governments and businesses many benefits. They include reduced financial risk (as the cloud eliminates big upfront investments) and lower costs as the multi-tenanted approach (sharing of infrastructure) enables economies of scale. The pay-per-use model makes it even more appealing. They no longer need to have a big inventory of different types of servers and expensive equipment (as well as applications) to run their operations through their own dedicated IT infrastructure. Then there is a need to have a big number of specialist staff to maintain the infrastructure round the clock, adding to their costs. The cloud changes it all by equipping governments and businesses with greater efficiency by helping them scale quickly as their requirements evolve. Storage capacity can be increased as soon as a need for it arises. For instance, if they have a need for new server capac-
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egov / www.egovonline.net / March 2011
Life-Saving Services Through
the Cloud There is hardly any infrastructural service that the cloud cannot deliver. Even life-saving services can be offered over the cloud. This will
The cloud changes it all by equipping governments and businesses with greater efficiency by helping them scale quickly as their requirements evolve. Storage capacity can be increased as soon as a need for it arises
make critical medical records easily and securely accessible across borders when there is no time to waste for a patient who needs immediate attention in a country not his own.
ity they do not have to spend big on a new system and wait weeks to beef up their infrastructure. By getting on the cloud, governments will also have the ability to speed up the rollout of e-services. With evolving technological changes, governments can reach out better to citizens and businesses. Citizens are already feeling empowered with disruptive technologies such as the social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc). They can be served better by governments that harness the cloud to deliver efficient services. Game-Changing Transformation: As can be seen, it is a lot more than the cost factor that is driving cloud adoption. It is in fact a game-changer with the cloud being a part of the transformation the communications industry is pitching itself on to cope with the explosion in content spawned by the video revolution that is gaining ubiquity. Interestingly, video is expected to account for more than 65% of all mobile data traffic by 2013. Cloud computing is thus viewed as necessary next step for transforming the way data centre resources are deployed, configured and managed so as to make the “Everything as as Service” delivery model effective, classic, scalable and sustainable”. Significantly, Cloud services help businesses conserve energy through environment-friendly use of data centres. Governments keen to go green in an effort to lower their carbon footprint will thus find it compelling. It is no surprise then that research firm Gartner projects revenue from cloud services to grow from $56 billion in 2009 to $150 billion in 2013. Gartner also says the cloud is one of the top three priorities of CIOs, the other two being
Service providers can help make this happen and governments can tap the potential to deliver enhanced health care for their people.
virtualisation and Web 2.0, all of which are interlinked. While APAC revenues from cloud are still small, IDC estimates the market will expand at a rate of about 40% a year until 2014. Security: A multi-layered security mechanism helps address concerns over data integrity and protection. Also, with a private cloud, organisations get the ability to deliver on-demand services without having to compromise on the security and stability offered by a traditional data centre. The virtual data centre yields real benefits. The strength of transport intelligence at the network, service and application layers coupled with a next-generation, virtual data centre and a private cloud framework should help allay any security fears. Service providers who help businesses with the cloud will manage their risks. Government environments are complex where processes hold sway, compounded by an IT infrastructure that gives them little room for upgrades without massive investments. The cloud will allow them to cash in on the latest in innovation and enhance productivity without having to fork out big bucks. Significantly, governments and businesses alike will not be left behind technology trends as service providers delivering cloud services will address all upgrade requirements. End-to-end service management is critical for increasing availability, managing complexity and contributing to efficient services and enhanced profitability. The cloud can enable that, delivering innovative services that are more than a pie in the sky and keeping both the corporate sector and governments future-ready.