Cloud ComputingImplications for Digital

Preservation

Stuart WakefieldDirector, Office of GCIO

Department of Internal Affairs

Topics for Today

• Overview of NZ public sector approach to cloud computing and current initiatives

• Potential implications for digital preservation• Will current digital preservation approaches be viable

for a could based service?• Should the archive also reside in the cloud?• Can you preserve an application context for a cloud

based service that updates frequently?• What are the key policy & design considerations for

adopting cloud to ensure a smooth transition in years to come?

NZ GOVERNMENT CLOUD OVERVIEW

The role of the Government CIO

• Support & Implement Government (ICT) Policy

• Leads ICT strategy for the public sector

• Provides a single point of coordination internationally

• Provides support and advice to agencies

• Provide Enterprise Architecture (GEA-NZ) and ICT Roadmap

Foundation

Business andOperationalFunctions

BusinessProcess

and Integration

Channels andTouchpoints

Communications

End User Devices

• Including; Desktops, Laptops, Multifunctional Devices, Mobiles

• Including; one.govt, secure email, unified communications

• Including; web standards, domain management, reusable web environment, public sector intranet, online consultation

• Identity: Including; EOI, igovt logon, identity verification, identify data validation

• Data Sharing: Including authoritative data definition, interoperability standards, data sharing, data management, government service bus concepts

• Public Sector IAM: Identity of state sector employees and their access to information and systems

• Including the focus on approaches to standardising government business functions such as finance

• Includes the development of core ICT infrastructure components including infrastructure, software asset management, security, software as a service

LAN / WANe.g.

BusinessProcess

Integration

IdentityInformation

Managemente.g.

Unique BusinessFunctions

….e.g.

e.g.Infrastructure

Security

Architectural Building Blocks

e.g.

Online Presence

e.g. GatewayServices

ICT Roadmap – Common Capabilities

IaaS

5

• For us IaaS is the provision of utility computing and housing for datacentre

equipment, also storage as a service (access to disk space for files) and

Back Up and Restore as a service (for securing data)

• Utility computing means the ability to use a virtualised compute resource

of a certain capacity (Processing power, memory, storage etc) as needed,

and on demand (pay as you go)

• Housing allows our agencies to migrate from their existing datacentres as

a precursor to adopting a virtualised utility computing model

IaaS for NZ Government

7

IaaS as a Foundation for Future Services

8

Software as a Service•Fully functional application provided•Examples: Email (EaaS); Financials; CRM

Platform as a Service•Operating system provided•Examples: Windows; LINUX; Oracle Database

Infrastructure as a Service•Virtual platform on which operating system and application are deployed•Includes Storage as a Service

NZ Government Cloud Programme1. Indicative Business Case for “Government Cloud” that will:

• Identify opportunities where a cloud computing approach may add value• Assess the feasibility & market maturity of cloud computing at various points in

the stack• Determine future roadmap and timeframes for cloud adoption (over and above

Office Productivity)• Identify the range of potential solutions to address “resolvable challenges”

2. Detailed Business Case for “Office Productivity Services” that will:

• Identify available and applicable service offerings • Assess these against agency need• Describe the commercial, financial, economic, strategic and management

impacts of the available options• Determine an implementation plan (including procurement) and timeframe

NZ Government Cloud Programme – Approach

• Programme draws expertise and is resourced from across government

• Government CIO provides strategic direction and overall assurance

• Consultative engagement with vendors to inform the business case

• No pre-determined requirements on solutions

• Open to exploring a range of options to address “resolvable challenges” to widespread adoption of cloud computing

IMPLICATIONS OF CLOUD

Current state digital archive

Infrastructure

Digital repositoryInfo system

Info system

Info system

Info system

Ingest /Quality

Assurance

Access tools

Digital Preservation Processes

Policy & Governance

Implications of Cloud Computing

• Cloud computing providers update and change their systems frequently to take advantage of new technology or offer competitive features

• Cloud computing abstracts users and organisations away from the underlying systems, data and infrastructure

• In any non-private cloud model the data is potentially hosted on a shared platform with other users or organisations

• At the end of the contract, or if the cloud provider ceases operations, the data and application may no longer be available

• DATA REPATRIATION is an essential consideration for any cloud computing deployment

• Does this offer an opportunity to “kill two birds with one stone?”

A future state digital archive ?

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Digital repository

Info system (Public Cloud)

Info system (Comm. Cloud)

Info system (Comm. Cloud)

Info system (Private Cloud)

Access tools (SaaS)

Digital Preservation Processes

Policy & Governance

Ingest /Quality

Assurance

Repat

riatio

n

The Virtual Archive...

• Archiving has traditionally required notions of permanence, however consider the case for a more “virtual” model:

• Hosting Repatriated data in a private cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) deployment

• Hosting archival metadata in a private cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) deployment

• “Ingestion” becomes a logical rather than physical process

• Access tools could also be cloud (SaaS) deployments

The role of the Data Warehouse

• Substantial resources have already been devoted to build enterprise data warehouses

• Repatriated cloud data could also be housed in a data warehousing construct

• Analytics, enterprise search, contextual analysis, and business intelligence all link to the data warehouse, giving insight to data

• With research and development investment in analytics orders of magnitude higher than for pure digital preservation systems, it seems likely that analytic capability will advance much more rapidly than digital preservation systems

• DP solutions may need to be developed to act upon enterprise data warehouse systems rather than operate on specialised digital archives of non-current information

APPLICATION CONTEXT

Preserving application context• Office Productivity

o Sheer prevalence of common office productivity software with levels of “backward compatibility” provides current protection against digital obsolescence

o Is this sustainable into the future, when your cloud based office productivity system and your files may be updated to a new version without your consent or knowledge?

• Cloud Computing Systemso How would application context be preserved where there was little/no control over

frequent updates and little/no control over Intellectual Property crucial for the application context?

• Large-scale adoption of common cloud environments may allow scope for negotiation of context documentation as a requirement

o consistent migration planningo better digital object attribute description

• Mandating common cloud environments provides consistency for digital preservation

• Virtualisation offers some possibilities, but difficult to virtualise a snapshot of all the “moving parts” of a cloud based system

POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

Cloud Policy Considerations• privacy – ensuring that services meet public expectations of privacy;

• security – ensuring that cloud computing services and their providers are secure;

• sovereignty – guaranteeing continuing access to and control of information and data;

• legislation - addressing any legislative constraints that prevent widespread adoption of cloud computing services;

• resilience – ensuring that New Zealand has robust international connectivity to the Internet;

• interoperability – ensuring that cloud computing services and legacy ICT systems work efficiently together to produce a seamless business operating environment;

• migration – developing a seamless transition plan that delivers early benefits; and

• exit strategy – ensuring that contractual, technological, and planning resources are in place to exit non-performing or superseded systems

And most importantly...

• data repatriation– ensuring a regular backup (preferably a real time feed) of the data hosted by the cloud provider to a repository within your direct control

For more information

Government ICT Website

www.ict.govt.nz

My contact details:

stuart.wakefield@dia.govt.nz

04 495 6035