The pathway to the cloud for the U.S. government is
critical to America’s continued growth and ability to provide new opportunities
for government organizations, businesses, and citizens alike.
Earlier this week, Greg Gardner, NetApp’s chief architect
for government solutions, joined a select group of experts from the commercial
and public sectors to deliver the highly anticipated report from the Commission
on the Leadership Opportunity in U.S. Deployment of the Cloud (CLOUD2).
The report, which was organized by the TechAmerica
Foundation, provides detailed recommendations to help the U.S. government adopt
cloud computing technologies and take the necessary policy steps to keep the
U.S. at the forefront of innovation to foster economic growth and enable
America to remain competitive within today’s global economy.
The CLOUD2 Commission was created in an effort to further
the Obama Administrations’ Cloud First Policy.
“The CLOUD2 report helps government policy makers
clarify what cloud computing is and how it can best be leveraged for both
public and private sector value. The report provides very finite and
prescriptive recommendations,” said Gardner.
The report addresses the ubiquity of a cloud computing
solution, the value of moving to the cloud, the fact that cloud computing is
not for everyone, and specific security concerns.
Continued innovation and leadership from IT vendors like
NetApp are critical to accelerating cloud adoption at all levels of government
and enable the country to take full advantage of the efficiencies and benefits
cloud technology provides.
NetApp
today is already at the forefront of the government’s transition to the cloud
and is considered an innovation leader within the IT sector. Many government
organizations have turned to NetApp to help them make the transition to a
flexible and efficient shared IT infrastructure, which is the foundation for
cloud computing.
Furthermore, Forbes magazine recently named NetApp one of
the world’s most innovative companies, and NetApp was the only major storage
vendor to make the list.
Through its leadership and experience in the federal
space and partnerships with leading global service providers and federal system
integrators, NetApp is ideally positioned to help simplify the transition and
enable the government to more quickly and effectively take advantage of cloud
technology.
“Cloud computing represents a tremendous opportunity
for the federal government to ensure that America remains a global innovation
leader,” said Mark Weber, president, NetApp U. S. Public Sector.
“NetApp is in lockstep with the recommendations set
forth in the report. We are committed to continuing to work with the U.S.
government to provide the technology, solutions, services, and education to
remain a trusted advisor to enable the government to transition to the cloud
with confidence,” Weber added.
CLOUD2 recommends that industry and government leaders
provide long-term security and assurance frameworks.
NetApp has developed the industry’s first secure
multi-tenant solution that is integrated, validated, and tested in
collaboration with best-in-class partners Cisco and VMware. The solution
enables government organizations to host multiple tenants on a shared
infrastructure and dynamically scale up or down to meet changing demand, all
while keeping information secure and isolated.
NetApp also helps government organizations protect
against data loss with enterprise-class data protection and high-availability
technologies.
CLOUD2 recommends that industry and government
organizations embrace the modernization of broadband infrastructure and the
current move to IPv6.
In 2010, NetApp was the first storage vendor to declare
conformity with the host profile for U.S. government acquisition of Internet
Protocol version 6 (USGv6). IPv6 enables computers to more effectively communicate
with one another via the Internet, which is fundamental to a successful cloud
environment.
CLOUD2 recommends that cloud service providers publicly
disclose information about relevant operational aspects of their services,
including performance, security, interoperability, and reliability.
CLOUD2 recommends that government and industry IT
personnel provide education and training on technical, business, and policy
issues around acquisition, deployment, and operation of cloud services.
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
