cloud computing for the government whitepaper ibm nirupam srivastava

7/23/2019 Cloud Computing for the Government Whitepaper IBM Nirupam Srivastava

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IBM Sales and Distribution

White paper

Government

Cloud Computing for theGovernment



2 Cloud Computing for the Government

Introduction As local and national governments work to infuse

intelligence into their transportation, energy, water and

telecommunications systems to stimulate economies and

benefit citizens, these efforts beg the question: can the

operation of government itself become smarter?

Smarter government will do more than simply regulate the

outputs of our economic and societal systems. It will itselfbe a smoothly functioning system. It will interconnect

dynamically with citizens, communities and businesses in

real time to spark growth, innovation and progress, and:

• Promote economic growth by streamlining cumbersome

processes and simplifying reporting requirements, especially

burdensome to small firms.

• Deliver citizen-centered operations and services by integrating

service delivery, establishing offices that support multiple

services and placing the high-demand transactions

on the Internet.

As governments manage the twin issues of budget constraints

and higher service requirements from citizens because of the

current economic environment, they face the increased

challenges of complexity and cost of managing their IT assets.

In this dynamic new age, deployment of information

technology with cloud technology will be the key to success

over the next decade. Once considered mainly an IT delivery

method, cloud has now become a key enabler for businessmodel innovation.

This paper demonstrates how leading government

organizations and agencies can use cloud to innovate,

address financial challenges and manage higher demand

for services by addressing two fundamental questions related

to cloud technology:

• How can governments explore cloud computing technology

that has the functionality needed to improve efficiency, reduce

cost or enable new capabilities?

• What applications, services and technologies shouldgovernments consider developing and deploying “in the

cloud” to meet their missions and goals?



IBM Sales and Distribution 3

Government challengesGovernments today are challenged to apply innovation to

meet these public sector mandates (Figure 1):

• Improve citizen and business services by connecting people

to programs based on individual needs, achieving sustainable

outcomes and reducing operational costs and maximizing

taxpayer value

• Manage resources effectively , using business intelligenceand planning to improve insight and elevate performance with

visibility and control.

• Ensure a sustainable environment by deploying

environmentally responsible operations, from energy

efficiency and conservation to transportation management

and the pursuit of renewable resources.

• Strengthen national security and public safety by making

it possible for defense and law enforcement organizations to

achieve situational awareness, increased speed of command

and combat superiority.

Figure 1: Government mandates.

Key drivers for governments

Based on Government 2020 white paper published by

IBM institute of Business Value, IBM identifies the following

six key drivers for governments.

Accelerating Globalization

Countries and societies are becoming

more economically interdependent across

social, political and cultural boundaries, as

illustrated by current economic conditions.

Evolving Societal Relationships

Today, governments are expected to deliver

results and value through secure, private

services that are available anywhere at

any time.

Expanding Impact of Technology

The adoption of the Internet is remaking the

landscapes of business, healthcare andgovernment.

Changing Demographics

Median ages are rising in the developed

countries of Italy, Germany and Japan, but

dropping in developing ones such as India.

Rising Environmental Concerns

Societies and governments are becoming

more attuned to what the earth can provide

and what it can tolerate.

Growing Threats to Social Stability and Order

From terrorism to armed conflict to pandemics

to natural disasters, the character of threats is

changing.

Improvecitizen andbusinessservices

Ensure asustainableenvironment

Manageresourceseffectively

Strengthennational securityand public safety

Government




Budgets are the biggest concern for public sector CEOs.

The skills of their employees are next, which is also tied to

an aging workforce, especially in the US and parts of Europe.

Governments are in danger of losing large numbers of staff

(and accumulated knowledge) as many in the public sector

workforce reach retirement.

Technology continues to grow in importance as a need

because it is viewed as a key enabler for change and hasbeen since IBM began the study (it has moved from 6th to

2nd place in the overall CEO sample). While technology

makes more things possible and is a critical contributor to the

transformation efforts, the level of technology complexity is

greater in the public sector. Public sector CEOs also anticipate

complexity to continue to be a technological stumbling block

five years from now. Figure 3 shows the complexity gap to be

in the order of 35 percent.

In 2010, as part of the IBM Global CEO Study, IBM

interviewed 329 public sector leaders, and found that these

mandates have created concerns and needs in the areas of

budgets, employee skills and technology for public sector

CEOs. Figure 2 shows their major concerns and how they

match up to the private sector.

8%9%

8%10%

24%15%

26%18%

37%24%

64%26%

17%29%

38%30%

38%41%

35%42%

56%4%Budgets

People skills

Technology

Macro-economic factors

Socio-economic factors

Market factors

Regulatory concerns

Globalization

Environmental issues

Geopolitical factors

Other

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Public Sector

Private Sector

Figure 2: The top concerns of public sector CEOs

Figure 3: Public sector complexity gap.

Currently experiencinghigh/very high level of complexity

Expect high/very high level ofcomplexity over the next 5 years

Feel prepared for expectedcomplexity

Public Sector

65%

85%

50%

Complexity gap

Experienced and expected level of complexity v preparedness

35%




This complexity can be explained by the fact that, in the last

two decades, IT has evolved from basic Internet connectivity

to web and online commerce.

When asked which factors were having the most impact on

their organizations (Figure 4), the public sector CEOs listed

the information explosion, a talent shortage, shorter time

cycles and more private participation in government.

To meet these challenges and address their needs, governments

need a solution that can help them transform themselves

into organizations that promote economic growth and

deliver citizen-centered operations and services. They need

help streamlining cumbersome processes and simplifying

reporting requirements, while integrating service delivery,

establishing offices that support multiple services and placing

the high-demand transactions on the Internet.

Cloud computing can help.

38%

52%

38%

62%

58%

59%

62%

60%

32%

57%

61%

54%

62%

57%

73%Information explosion

Talent shortages

Shorter time cycles

Sustainability

Industry transformation

Shifts between mature andrapidly developing markets

Shift between global andlocal markets

Scarcity of naturalresources 29%

27%

36%

Public Sector

Private Sector

Figure 4: Factors having the greatest impact on the public sector.

Shift between public andprivate boundaries

“This is the biggest squeeze in public spendingin my lifetime. Therefore there has neverbeen a better opportunity for substantialchange. A great opportunity for cooperationbetween the private and public sector.”

—Municipal Government CEO, UK




Why cloud for government?Cloud technology can help governments and departments

partner and innovate to address their challenges. As Figure 5

demonstrates, it is the natural evolution from the Internet

and web.

Government users do not need knowledge of, expertise in or

control over the technology infrastructure that supports them.

Whether you fully understand all the technical details involved

or not, the crucial issue is what cloud computing can do for

governments. Some of the most noticeable benefits that cloud

computing can bring to governments are:

• Increased efficiency in the use of IT resources. Cloud

computing promotes the significant reuse of existingcomputing, storage and data resources by simplifying access

to them and making it easier for multiple jurisdictions to

share resources. When you reuse assets, it is possible to reduce

costs. This would alleviate the public sector budget concerns.

• Faster deployment of new capabilities. A common repository

combined with scheduling, automation and optimized testing

can contribute to rapid deployment of new capabilities.

The result is shorter cycle times.

• Improved consistency and quality of new capabilities.

A common image repository — one where common and

reusable images are tested and hardened — ensures

consistent, higher-quality results. Such a repository canhelp manage complexity.

• Faster integration with partners, vendors, customers

and suppliers. A cloud-based test environment requires

standardization and consistency. This approach makes

it possible for external partners (such as outsourced

development firms) to plan test phases more efficiently

and confidently, because the environment is consistent and

well known.

Figure 5 : The evolution of technology to cloud

Infrastructure Technologies

Alternate ClientDevices

Web Platforms and Applications

Business Models

Data CenterPressures

ApplicationTechnologies

Industrialization of IT

NetworkingData-Intensive Applications

Cloud

Web

Internet

ElasticServices

Connectivity

Information and E-Commerce

1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Cloud computing provides dynamically scalable resourcesas a service, using:

• Virtualization of infrastructure and services

• Automated provisioning of services

• Elastic scaling (increase or decrease) of computing

power — on demand

• Increased availability and connectivity with users




Figure 6 illustrates the beneficial aspects of cloud.

Cloud computing is particularly attractive to government

organizations that want to speed service delivery and increase

IT efficiencies while supporting information management,

service management and service-oriented architecture (SOA)

initiatives.

Self Service

Figure 6 : Cloud computing can help reduce cost and optimize business.

Agility

Virtualization

Business &

IT Alignment

Standardization

Service

Flexibility

Automation

Industry

Standards

ReducedCost

OptimizedBusiness

+

+

+

+

+

+ =

=

It should be noted that, although cloud computing offers

distinct advantages, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Organizations must carefully consider delivery models,

workloads and infrastructure readiness. For cloud

implementations to be successful, government agencies and

departments need to work effectively internally, with other

agencies and even with organizations in the private sector.

Boundaries are vanishing and there is a call for departments

to be comfortable and thrive in a new ecosystem thatrequires interdependent partnerships and shared resources.

This is also what IBM found during our survey of public

sector CEOs, and was much clearer at the local and regional

level (Figure 7).

Perform

in-house

National

Regional

Local

Partner

extensively

66%

78%

79%

24%

18%

13%

10%

4%

8%

How will you change your operating strategy:

Figure 7 : Partnering extensively is named as the top method of changingoperating strategies.




What kind of cloud offerings are available

to the government? There are different types of cloud offerings (Figure 8), all of

which can help governments manage their application growth

and computing costs better.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is both a user experience and a business

model that offers users access to their applications from

anywhere, with any connected device. Applications, data and

IT resources are provided to users as services delivered over

the network. It enables self-service, economies of scale and

flexible sourcing of options.

Many people have used cloud services without even realizing

it. For example, web-based email from Google and Yahoo,

applications on the web such as Salesforce.com and social

media applications like Facebook and Twitter all make use

of cloud services. These services are in data centers where

computational resources can be dynamically provisioned and

shared to achieve significant economies of scale. So, in effect,

cloud computing can also be seen as a way of managing large

number of resources stored in multiple locations so they

resemble a single large virtualized resource.

PrivateIT capabilities are provided “as aservice,” over an intranet, within the

enterprise and behind the firewall

PublicIT activities / functions are

provided “as a service,”

over the internet

Enterprise

data center

Enterprise

data center

managed

private cloud Hosted private cloud Shared cloud services

Enterprise

A B

Public cloud services

Users

A B

Enterprise

Figure 8: Types of cloud offerings.

private cloud

Third-party

operated

Third-party hosted

and operated

HybridInternal and external service

delivery methods are integrated




Public

The infrastructure in a public cloud is owned and managed

by an organization selling cloud services and is made available

to the general public. In this model, multiple subscribing

clients access computing capabilities and services (such as

standardized business processes, applications and infrastructure

services) on a flexible, pay-per-use basis. Governments that

have high level of maturity in managing IT and outsource

services can benefit from public cloud offerings. Manyagencies in the UK government fall into this category.

Private

The infrastructure in a private cloud is operated solely for a

user organization. The organization can own the private cloud

or they can engage a third party to host it — either on site or

off. A private cloud provides restricted access to the computing

capabilities and resources to be shared by employees, internal

departments such as human resources, IT or marketing and

external partners such as distributors and manufacturers.

Private cloud computing helps drive efficiency, standardization

and best practices in the services it provides and lets youretain greater customization and control than public clouds

would permit. Government agencies and departments with

specialized requirements might find private cloud suitable

to their needs.

Hybrid

The infrastructure in a hybrid cloud consists of a

combination of both private cloud and public cloud features.

In this model, computing capabilities and resources are

owned and maintained by both the user organization and

the cloud provider. An organization uses public cloud

computing capabilities and services for general computing,

but stores customer and sensitive data in its private cloud

to ensure security.

Deciding which type is best

To compare the benefits of public clouds with those of

traditional dedicated services, you should evaluate the software

services provided by application service providers (ASPs)

compared to the software services that are available on

the public cloud. Similarly, for private clouds, you should

compare the traditional hosted enterprise IT infrastructure

available in data centers to services that are available from

a private cloud.




Types of services provided by

cloud computingCloud computing provisions and delivers standardized IT

services to users over a network (Internet or intranet) in a

flexible pricing and usage model. The users are only aware

of the service. The service provider is responsible for

implementing the service and managing the required

infrastructure. In addition to provisioning and virtualization,

the cloud model also de-provisions these services so they can

be reallocated for other purposes. The concept of repurposing

and reuse is a key tenet of cloud computing.

The cloud infrastructure focuses squarely on efficient

utilization of the base infrastructure (Figure 9). This includes

virtualization, routing and storage management. The cloud

platform manages the services running on the infrastructure.

The services provided by the cloud are what the consumers

actually use.

Business process as a service

Business process as a service (BPaaS) describes a situation where a third party leases business processes and capabilities

to a company so that the company does not have to handle

them in-house. The services are available by network and

the company either pays as it uses the services or makes a

low, upfront investment to get started.

Suitable as

incrementalSuitable as core

Suitable as coreMay contribute

partly, may provide

redundancy

Cloud computing

Traditional IT**

Variable demand for

provisioning of

services

Stable demand for

services from users

Variability in demand

Vs. Cloud*

Figure 9: Cloud infrastructure matrix.

*The attractiveness of cloud computing will vary based on the type of service offered

**Traditional IT denotes an organization’s owning and managing IT infrastructure/applications




Infrastructure as a service

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provides hardware

components such as servers, network equipment, memory,

computer processing and disk space. With IaaS, a government

could run all operations without installing and maintaining

in-house data centers. The approach to the delivery of these

services varies from provider to provider.

Software as a service

Software as a service (SaaS) is the distribution of software

hosted by a provider in a central and remote location, made

available to consumers over a network. SaaS uses a pay-as

you-go pricing model, which decreases or increases the

number of software licenses based on need, eliminating the

procurement, installation or maintenance of software or

hardware, along with ongoing maintenance costs. When

organizations use the SaaS delivery model, they can accessbusiness applications such as accounts payable and customer

loyalty — and can do so virtually.

Platform as a service

With platform as a service (PaaS), the complete application

development and deployment platform (both hardware and

software) can be delivered as a service over the Internet or

company network. Developers can create, test, deploy and host

applications quickly, without having to bear the cost and

complexity of buying and managing the underlying software

and hardware. PaaS is often referred to as “cloudware.” In

some cases, web services, web 2.0 capabilities and middlewareare offered as an integrated platform on which applications can

be built, assembled and run.




Applications of cloud for governmentFour key applications of cloud for government are in line with

the four key areas identified earlier in this paper (Figure 10).

These applications are new services for citizens, computing

environment management, sustainable and green government

and enterprise collaboration. In addition to these applications

and delivery models, we also recommend community clouds.

With community cloud, agencies and departments can share

resources in a secure environment.

But where should you start?

A key criterion for cloud application selection and adoption is

workload. Figure 11 shows current cloud deployments for

work loads based on 110 case studies of cloud computing

implementations. The top three workloads have a much larger

focus than the rest.

Figure 10: Cloud applications for government.

New serviceson the Cloud

Sustainableand GreenGovernment

through cloud

Manage computeenvironment onthe Cloud

Strengthensecurity throughenterprisecollaboration

Government

Municipal and Central

Government

Community cloud

Decision supportand Analytics

Collaboration(collaborative

computing)

Business apps

Web infrastructure

IT infrastructure/infrastructure

services

Applicationdevelopment

and test

100%80%60%40%20%0%

Current Cloud adoption for this workload

Future (2012) Cloud adoption for this workload

Figure 11: Current workloads and cloud.




Besides workload, other parameters such as regulation and

data sensitivity can help you define what workloads to move to

which type of cloud. Figure 12 shows a comprehensive review

of cloud readiness.

An IBM Component Business Model can also help

government agencies, organizations and edpartments identify

areas where cloud can be used. Component business modeling

is a technique for analyzing an enterprise by first partitioning

it into relatively independent business components.

For example, a municipal government can map its components

and identify the areas that can transition to the cloud model,

depending on the priorities and level of readiness of each.In addition, the municipality can also identify common

components that can be used for all business area or

departments, such as program evaluation or oversight,

record retention and more.

Figure 13 illustrates some opportunities for consideration

(green represents public cloud; orange indicates private/hybrid

cloud opportunities).

Figure 12: Identifying workloads for the cloud




Using a component business model, a government or

government agency can anticipate the impact of cloud

from a business perspective. This also enables organizations

to transition successfully to the cloud model.

New services for citizens

Public sector leaders see the cloud services development

landscape evolving very quickly. Many cities and municipalities

are realizing that rapid innovation with software that provides

citizens with new services that they can access from a variety

of devices could become their major differentiator. Web traffic

from mobile devices such as smart phones is increasing.

Citizens expect their mobile web pages to be highly responsive,

to be available any time they need them and to provide

increasing amounts of information. Meeting this demand

requires device detection, web acceleration and caching

strategies to keep fresh content in the cloud in near

proximity to the consumer.

Figure 13: Sample Component Business Model for a municipality

City Vision &

Strategy

Spatial

Strategy

Event Strategy

Development

Environmental Impact

Management

Business

Analytics

Contract

Management

Town Planning

Property Valuation

Building Control

Property & Land

Management

Operations

Management

StrategicPlanning

UrbanPlanning

Health &Human

Services

Economic &Human

DevelopmentServices

Safety &Information

ManagementStrategy

Finance PublicInfrastructure

& Services

Provincial Liaison &

Communications

City Social Services

Strategy

Housing

AdministrationSocial Services

Oversight

Health Services

Oversight

Environment Health

Management

Personal Health

Services Delivery

HousingCoordination

Eligibility

Determination

Social Services

Delivery

Heritage Preservation

Human Dev

& Arts Program

Marketing &

Outreach

Cultural Institutions

Oversight

Human

Development

Program

Management

Event Management

Human

Development

Strategy

Cultural Heritage

& Arts

Development

Strategy

Mitigation &

Preparedness

Strategic Planning

Governance &

Multi-jurisdictional

Coordination

Policy

Disaster

Management

Multi-jurisdictional

Communications

& Relationship

Management

Safety & Security

Workforce

Development

Prevention &

Awareness Activities

Emergency Response

Law Enforcement

Activities

Budgeting &

Financial

Planning

Policy Development

& Response

Development

Capability

Management

Obligations &ExpendituresMonitoring

Financial Auditing& Compliance

Monitoring

Investment

Management

DebtManagement

Billing & Collections

Supply Chain

Budget Execution

Credit Control &

Legal Processing

Debt Operations

Service Policy

and Strategy

InstallationEngineering

Cutoffs &

Reconnections

Usage Monitoring

Transportation

Operations

Traffic Systems &

Road Construction

MunicipalManagement

Services

Investment

Facilitation

Strategy

Human Capital

Planning

IT & GIS Strategic

Planning

Operations Standards,

Policies & Guidance

Facilities &

Asset Planning

Spatial Information

Management

Environment Health

Services Delivery

Determination

Sports Facilities

& Events

Libraries

Economic

Development ServicesSecurity Services

Volunteer Personnel

Operations

Event

Preparedness

Public Safety

Management

Insurance

Utilities Service

Installation

Service Delivery

Maintenance &

Troubleshooting

Environmental/ConservationManagement

Regulatory Liaison& Communications

Compliance &RegulatoryReporting

PerformanceMonitoring

OccupationalHealth & Safety

Legislative Affairs& Ward

Representation

WorkforceManagementand Planning

Risk Assurance

Legal Services

Fleet Maintenance

Workforce Devlp

Service Delivery

Citizen Relationship

HR IT

Facilities Maint.

Committee Support

& Administration

PR &Communications

Knowledge Mgmt.

Election Operations

Public Cloud Opportunity

Private/Hybrid Cloud opportunity

* Please note the components could differ for your municipality




Social media integration is another way that contact between

the public sector and citizens is changing. Government

departments have embraced social media such as Facebook,

Twitter and MySpace to promote messages and build direct

conversations with citizens.

Using cloud, government agencies can launch new services or

transition existing services for different devices and delivery

formats using the cloud — making what was once an abstractidea a reality (Figure 14). Component business models can

help them identify quick wins for cloud adoption with

managed risks. For example, combining data from various

departments can lead to the development of applications that

drive Smarter Cities™ and smarter government.

Business recovery/disaster recovery in the cloud

In one of the US states, the governor was directed to

safeguard the government’s mission critical data and functions.

So, the government began work on the development of a

comprehensive plan to ensure that critical government

services could and would continue to function in the event

of an emergency. An impact analysis summary report was

developed for each application and they formed the basis

for a centralized solution for the government cloud facility.

By consolidating the government continuity and disaster

recovery with the agencies, the government realized additional

operational cost savings of $120,000 per year.

Figure 14: Using cloud to make abstract ideas reality




Cloud software services are attractive for the public sector as a

platform because they are easy to use and promote efficiency.

For example, service composition links independent services

for additional value. It also defines the basis for a public/private

ecosystem with initial trials in Smarter Cities. Public sector

organizations and agencies can launch numerous new services

when they use Service Composition on top of existing services.

A government applications store can help public sector

organizations share and reuse online business applications,services and components (Figure 15).

Infrastructure that supports new services for citizens can use

cloud technologies to recognize and respond to the four key

trends and challenges. Putting server systems and storage in

the cloud can help public sector agencies and departments

handle an increasing amount of case management and analysis

in a virtual environment. Cloud makes it possible for resources

not only to be shared in numerous projects and location but

also to be rapidly applied to high-priority projects such as

integration of heterogeneous operating environments.

Using cloud storage technologies, organizations can access

data from multiple sources, share it with and between multiple

sites and manage the content throughout its life cycle. This

includes support for citizen data management (the metadata

that captures the pedigree of information — who, what, when,

where), models for analysis, stimulus generators, test cases

and the storage of analysis results.

As important as it is to get your message out, it is now

equally important to learn what others are saying about you.

To gain this insight, government agencies and departmentshave to monitor all kinds of input from all kinds of sources.

The application of business analytics to sift through these

messages can help them identify what citizens want to know,

and what are their top concern areas.

Figure 15 : Sample cloud infrastructure for supporting new servicesfor citizens.




The capture of web metrics and the application of business

analytics can also help determine citizen interest in the

incentives offered. This information can be used to help tune

the incentive amount by increasing the amount if consumer

interest appears low and decreasing the incentive when citizen

interest indicates incentives may not be necessary. Cloud-based

business analytics may reduce the time needed to identify

changes in economic trends in response to an economic

stimulus and shorten the reaction time needed to introducecounter measures

Manage computing environment

Government agencies are faced with numerous challenges

in the IT computing environment. Data center demand for

computing capabilities continues to increase as organizations

operate business processes and provide business analytics.

Storage needs are growing rapidly to handle the increased

volume of data being created by government activities.

Storage cloud technologies can help government departments

address their storage needs.

Virtualization breaks the one-to-one connection between

a system and the hardware on which it runs. Virtual servers

can be migrated from machine to machine transparently.

As equipment reaches the end of serviceable life, new

equipment can be introduced to the server pool while the

old server is removed from the pool. No reimplementation

or integration efforts are required to swap an old server

in a pool for a new server. Cloud technologies can further

improve a virtualization solution by extending the

provisioning of the resources necessary for virtual servers.

IT virtualization services helps a state government

In one of the US states, IT personnel had been consolidated into

a single department in 2005, but servers and data center

functions were scattered over 38 separate locations. This led to

costly support, high utility costs and inconsistent standards for

hosting services. The state engaged IBM to help them resolve

the issue in early 2009. IBM helped the state consolidate 37 data

centers into two data centers, virtualizing the state’s server

environment, establishing a highly available, redundant SAN for

enterprise storage, and beefing up the core state network to

support the new services. By the end of 2009, 510 servers had

been moved to the virtualized infrastructure.




It is not uncommon for the test and development

environments of government agencies and organizations to

be underutilized. Maintaining these environments is so

expensive that agencies departments often prefer to let those

machines sit idle until they are needed. Rapid automated

provisioning and de-provisioning of services (made possible

by moving entire images online and offline quickly) are core

functions of virtualization, and this includes entire software

configuration environments. Virtualized development and testenvironment images can be moved online or offline in the

cloud at a lower cost, making it possible for the underlying

infrastructure to be used for provisioning new services.

As data volumes grow, the ability to provision vast amounts

of low-cost storage is becoming increasingly difficult for

government agencies and departments, and increasingly

easy using storage clouds. Government departments rely

on storage with high-performance data access and robust

backup and recovery mechanisms. Lost hours from prolonged

data recovery — or lost data from insufficient back up

intervals — can put entire programs at risk. Informationprotection services provided by cloud technologies can

help government departments mitigate these risks.

Outside the data center, the traditional desktop client

continues to have a significant role in government departments

and agencies. With it comes the traditional problem: how to

cut computing costs with centralized management and not

infringe on the user’s personal control of the computing

environment. According to Gartner Research, the indirect

costs of a typical desktop computer are twice the direct costs;

however, if IT were to virtualize the graphical user interface

(GUI) of all personal computer applications and manage thesoftware centrally, indirect IT costs would be cut in half.

For IT, that represents a considerable amount of savings.1

Cloud technologies make it possible for thin clients or other

Internet-connected devices to access managed, platform-

independent hosted applications and full client images.

Greener government

According to an IBM whitepaper titled “The Greening of

Government: A Study of How Governments Define the

Green Agenda,” industry and government executives

interviewed for the paper cited the top three green

government priorities worldwide today: green buildings,green transportation and green procurement. Cloud

technology can facilitate the energy reduction capabilities

that are needed for each of these priorities.




Energy consumption has put data centers at a tipping point

(Figure 16). The need to obtain the necessary power and

cooling to handle the increasing computing demands has

become a serious consideration and is altering long-held

cost dynamics. The amount of energy that data centers use

is doubling every five years.2 Global electricity prices are

increasing 10 to 25 percent per year.3 This presents a

formidable challenge to government agencies, organizations

and departments as their budgets are cut or remain flat,at the same time that they are struggling with hardware

that is no longer serviceable and implementation and

integration projects.

“Data is explodingand it is in silos”

“New business &process demands”

“My infrastructure isinflexible and costly”

“Our resourcesare limited”

I need insight I need to worksmart

I need to respondquickly

I needefficiency

NewIntelligence

SmarterWork

DynamicInfrastructure

Green &Beyond

How can

government

collect, analyze

and use

information in

real time from a

multitude of

sources to makeintelligent

choices?

How can

government

work smarter,

supported by

dynamic processes

modeled for

flexibility and

changingenvironment

How does

government drive

greater efficiencies,

by taking action

now on energy,

environment and

sustainability?

How can

government

create an

infrastructure that

drives down the

cost, is intelligent

and secure?

Figure 16 : Cloud computing and a greener government.

Opportunities exist for public sector organizations, agencies

and departments to employ cloud technologies to reduce their

data center and energy footprint with virtualization, while at

the same time addressing the end of serviceable life problem.

Virtualization technology is a key component of cloud

computing. Converting multiple physical servers into virtual

servers in a server pool can result in lower power and cooling

consumption. Cloud can also help move servers that have

reached the end of their serviceable lives into a server pool oncurrent hardware, where they reside as virtual servers.

Enterprise collaboration

The notion of the “workplace” has changed. Work is

increasingly performed over the cloud on the business

premises of partners and suppliers, at home and in coffee

shops. Governments are looking to simplify and expose

internal resources to any user, from any device, from any

location. Cloud applications that make the most of web

technologies will enable device-independent access to a

secure, unified, global public sector organization — from

inside or outside the organization. They can span isolatedorganizations and applications with templates that define

common structured useful to many clients. These standard

elements support efficiency and variations satisfy client-specific

needs. For example, local governments each deliver services,

but each has unique processes and policies (Figure 17).




Enterprise collaboration must simplify communication by

combining available communications channels, promising

anywhere/anytime connectivity over the cloud. To make that

happen, government departments need capabilities that:

• Connect to the people they do business with using instant

messaging, chat functionality, voice, video and desktop

sharing.

• Understand the availability and location of colleagues using

wired or wireless presence.

• Create communities, collaborate in online team rooms andsearch for other workers based on skills, projects and

communities of interest.

• Gain access to shared files from anywhere.

Figure 17 : Templates and variations in cloud solutions.

Government agencies and organizations are feeling the

pressure to adapt to the consumer technology wave with

its ever-increasing diversification of mobile telephone and

computing platform options. Increasingly, employee-owned

smart phones and laptop computers with built-in connections

to the cloud are making their way into the workplace.

In response, public sector agencies, organizations and

departments should consider removing barriers to

collaboration by providing integrated tools over the cloudthat make it possible to share of business information over

multiple technologies and devices inside and outside of

the government.

Collaboration environment enabled by cloud helps in

improving not only efficiency but also security and safety.

Different agencies can collaborate in real time to identify

threats and take corrective action. This can have an impact to

save lives in the events of natural disasters such as cyclones or

terrorist attacks.

Appl’n A Appl’n B

Appl’n B

Appl’n C Appl’n C

Gov’t 3Gov’t 1

Gov’t 2

Req Prop

Acce

Non-

Effec

Crea Req Prop

Can

Acce

Non-

Effec Crea Req Prop

Can Non-

Effec Crea




Community clouds

Cloud computing presents a way to dynamically offer a

service to a community (of agencies and departments) that

will meet their availability and performance needs while

keeping operating costs low (and limited to expenses based

on what was actually used rather than capital investment

based on projections of what the user might need). Community

clouds reserved for government users promise the cost

savings of a public cloud while delivering the security

required for government use.

Email and web services in the cloud

In 2009, the CIO of a US state announced that the state was

preparing a private cloud that would deliver “hosted email and

web applications” to cities and counties in the state. The

virtualized platform initiative for private cloud computing was

initiated in February 2009. By summer, the infrastructure was

ready to begin provisioning services in the central data center.

The solution has been in place for just over 11 months. Since

that time, it has grown to support every executive branch

agency in state government.

Community-based cloud initiatives for both federal and

municipal governments can enable the spread of shared cloud

computing. For example, Federal Community Cloud can

provide a shared IT infrastructure to government users only.

This can allow government agencies to run programs and

access data for a monthly subscription fee. Similarly, Municipal

Shared Services Cloud can provide local software-as-a-service

for municipalities so they can benefit from ready to use

applications. Several cities/municipalities have already signedup and more are in the process of signing up for the municipal

cloud. Moreover, independent software companies can offer

their products to government users on either community cloud

platform.

Community clouds provide a “pay as you go” model. Another

important driver is speed: “I can deploy resources in this

environment quickly.” This is crucial in environments that

need to grow or shrink quickly. Combine these two drivers and

you get a service that expands or contracts with users’ needs

and lets them pay only for service usage.




How to get started When adopting cloud computing techniques, tools and

processes, it is important to use a phased approach in

which each step builds upon the previous step. The initial

phase should establish capability, so that evaluation and

testing can determine viability and then enhance those

capabilities as appropriate.

Begin by identifying and prioritizing cloud initiatives. As we mentioned earlier in this paper, evaluate your “cloud

level of readiness” to determine what to address first and

consider using an IBM Component Business Model to help

you identify areas that could benefit from cloud computing.

Based on our experience, some of the areas we recommend

for consideration include IT virtualization services, email

and web services, business continuity and disaster recovery,

emergency response service and core management services

such as enterprise resource planning, tax payment services

and so forth.

Why IBM The IBM Institute for Electronic Government can facilitate

discussions on cloud adoption in government. IBM leadership

in cloud computing extends to the delivery of enterprise-wide

solutions. IBM cloud computing offerings make it possible

for your organization to address cost-effectively the

infrastructure issues that impede optimum delivery of

business process services.

IBM has integrated hardware, software, services, global

financing and research offerings that address the operational

and business model transformation needs of the public sector.

We can also demonstrate the benefits of optimized workloads,

integrated service management and choice of delivery models.




What does IBM bring to you?

• Clear economic value. IBM’s portfolio of cloud offerings

helps clients achieve significant savings, rapid payback

and positions for growth.

• Integrated and open solutions. IBM encourages a broader

ecosystem, including developers, ISVs and resellers, with

an open standards approach to developing solutions.

• Security and business readiness. The IBM Security

Framework and Blueprint provides a comprehensive

method for addressing all aspects of security.

• Design for simplicity. IBM is designing our cloud solutions

to have a simple, intuitive, self-service interfaces that

enable users to pull resources from the cloud when and

where they need them.

• Globally relevant. IBM Cloud Labs are in the US, UK, China,

India, Korea, Japan, Ireland, South Africa, Brazil, Hong Kong

and Singapore. IBM has a worldwide network of IBM

Business Partners and delivery centers in 174 countries.

Cleareconomic

value

Integratedand open

Secure andready

for business

Designingfor

simplicity

Globallyrevelant

ConclusionCloud computing can provide the public sector with

substantive benefits. National, state and province and

municipal governments all over the world should evaluate

cloud computing as a viable solution for reducing operating

costs, simplifying business processes and collaborating more

easily with partners, suppliers and citizens.

For more information To learn more about how cloud computing can help the

Government, visit:

ibm.com /cloud

http://www.ibm.com/cloud





© Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

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References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply thaIBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates

1 http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/news/view/121206.html

2 US Environmental Protection Agency, Report to Congress on Server andData Center Energy Efficiency, Public Law 109-431, August 2, 2007

3 Energy Information Administration, 2001-2008; IBM analysis

Please Recycle

Authors Nirupam Srivastava

Managing Consultant, Strategy and Transformation

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