Hoping to gain a toehold in the government’s move toward cloud computing, Microsoft has presented the National Science Foundation (NSF) with an offer that is difficult to refuse: any project approved by the NSF can run on Windows Azure at no charge.
The NSF has already gained access to cloud-based software services from Google and [Read More →]
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Microsoft gives NSF projects a free pass
February 5, 2010 — GusIBM wins Air Force contract in major test of cloud security
February 4, 2010 — GusThe momeuntum coming out of the U.S. government for cloud projects continues to build. IBM announced it won a contract from the U.S. Air Force for a the design and demonstration of a secure cloud computing infrastructure capable of supporting defense and intelligence networks.
One of the challenges — and opportunities — for IBM is [Read More →]
NASA commissions a platform for shared computational modeling
February 4, 2010 — GusYou might call this a cloud platform for modeling clouds. NASA is awarding a $600,000 contract to develop a platform that will allow engineers and scientists to execute computational modeling from a browser. The contractor is Parabon Computation Inc., a ten-year old DC-area company that focuses on computational analysis for distributed systems, especially grids.
The new [Read More →]
Federal budget funds a transition to cloud platforms
February 2, 2010 — GusThe 2011 budget allocates $79 billion for IT spending and one of the priorities is going to be implementation of cloud computing platforms. 2010 will be a year of pilot projects with cloud architectures becoming part of the long range plan for greater efficiency. The reasons are buried deep within the OMB (Office of Management [Read More →]
UK planning a broad cost-saving move to cloud platforms
January 27, 2010 — GusA plan is being circulated within the U.K. to move its government IT services onto a cloud platform based on open source software. The selling point is the potential for £3.2 billion a year savings (US $5.2 billion). To achieve the savings, the government would need to build ten to twelve data centers, each costing [Read More →]
Microsoft is asking Congress to legislate on cloud computing
January 22, 2010 — GusApparently Brad Smith’s mother never told him, “Be careful what you wish for.” Mr. Smith went to Washington yesterday and spoke out in favor of federal laws to support cloud computing.
Smith is a senior vice-president and general counsel at Microsoft, and he was speaking at the Brookings Institution, one of the top think tanks in [Read More →]
FTC investigating cloud computing as possible threat to consumer privacy
January 5, 2010 — GusWill cloud computing architectures make it easier for snoops to satisfy their curiosity? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun to explore whether cloud computing has implications for data security.
The news was first reported by The Hill which uncovered a filing made by the FTC with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The notice was given [Read More →]
Irish government launching program to encourage transition to SaaS
October 29, 2009 — GusEnterprise Ireland (EI) has begun a program that will encourage Irish software companies develop their products on a cloud platform. EI is an agency within the Irish Government agency that is charged with helping Irish companies to achieve strong positions in global markets. The contract was awarded to Saaspoint, a company founded by former [Read More →]
Los Angeles city council OKs move to Google apps
October 28, 2009 — GusLos Angeles city workers will be moving their email and calendars into Google’s cloud environment after all. The city council voted to approve their CTO’s plan to switch 30,000 workers from Microsoft Outlook to Google Apps.
The plan was challenged by a consumer watchdog who questioned whether cloud computing was reliable and secure, citing the case [Read More →]
Your tax at dollars work: The federal ABC’s of cloud computing
October 24, 2009 — GusIs cloud computing about to become a political issue? A new federal website is taking a stand and it is clearly in the pro-cloudy camp. Worse, the site – Apps.gov is open over a month now and just about the only thing that works is this animated video.
The video is one part Sesame Street [Read More →]
