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UK government unveils G-Cloud

Tony Chan | June 29, 2009 | 0 Comments

Mirroring similar initiatives outlined by the Japanese and US governments, the UK is calling for the adoption of cloud computing services for future government ICT requirements.

“All those Government bodies likely to procure ICT services should look to do so on a scaleable, cloud basis such that other public bodies can benefit from the new capability,” said the UK government’s Digital Britain report, a strategy report for IT and communications in the country.

According to the report, the CIO Council and the Public Sector Council of Intellect, the trade association for the UK high tech industry, had commissioned and completed a strategy study to see whether the technical advances associated with Cloud Computing – server and storage virtualisation, systems management automation, image management, and self-service provisioning – could be used to provide a private cloud for Government – a ‘G-Cloud’. That study has since established a route-map for G-Cloud, which involves the consolidation of existing government data centres and services.

“This would both allow Government to benefit from the core attributes of Cloud Computing e.g. enhanced user experience, flexible pricing, elastic scaling, rapid provisioning, advanced virtualisation while also maintaining the appropriate levels of security, accountability and control required for most Government systems, and lead to substantial savings in costs,” the report said. Achieving the G-Cloud “would be a first around the world for Digital Britain.”

While the document outlines few technical parametres for the G-Cloud, unlike the US government’s RFI document for its cloud strategy, the overall strategy behind the initiative has been endorsed by industry commentators.

“The logic of cloud computing is certainly attractive. The core notion is the ability to treat ICT as a ubiquitous, on-demand service and to consume as much, or as little, as is needed. Cloud computing is thus a combination of two extremes – the centralised supply of a generic, configurable service and the decentralised choices of individual customers,” commented consultancy, Ovum, on the G-Cloud initiative. “Virtualisation and automation (for elasticity), broadband networks (for ubiquitous availability) and self-provisioning processes (for ease of adoption) make cloud computing more customer centric than any previous generation of ICT services. Cloud computing offers a new path through the infrastructure centralisation minefield by enabling the creation of an easier way for agencies to choose to behave cooperatively.”

The report notes that the establishment of a G-Cloud will however require investment in technical development and physical facilities. Presently, the CIO Council and the Intellect Public Sector Council are now developing the strategic business case to justify funding the G-Cloud. Provided that this business case can be properly developed, the adoption of the G-Cloud will be a priority for Government investment to secure efficiencies, even within the very constrained framework for public expenditure, over the next 3 years, the report said.

Any initiative will take some time for full adoption, Ovum added. “G-Cloud – or indeed any private cloud – operates within a complex environment of legacy infrastructure and applications, and a constrained set of supply and demand forces. Infrastructure cannot be modernised overnight and neither can the behaviour of agencies be changed quickly to embrace cloud logic.”

“Implementing a G-Cloud will require a mix of strategic and opportunistic supply and demand-side initiatives. These include, for example: building all new data centres in the cloud computing mode; using G-Cloud as a delivery platform for selected new applications; and encouraging existing shared services and agency ICT functions to source new computing capacity from the G-Cloud and also to retail cloud applications – with added value such as security vetting, authentication and billing,” Ovum continued. “Measures will also need to be put in place to educate agencies about where, when and how to use both the G-Cloud and public clouds safely and cost effectively – with careful attention to security and privacy risks.”

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