Technology

Online forum seeks cloud computing best practices

SafeGov.org aims to provide government with a greater understanding of the benefits of cloud computing.

Federal News Network Staff

November 1, 2011 12:10 pm

< a min read

By Jolie Lee
Federal News Radio

A new industry-run website called SafeGov.org aims to provide government with a greater understanding of the benefits of cloud computing.

According to the website, “SafeGov.org works to empower government users to make well-informed procurement choices from the growing universe of marketplace offerings.”

Industry partners include the Chertoff Group, Civitas Group, Harris Corporation, Juniper Networks, KE&T Partners, L3 Stratis, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Peerstone Research, Ponemon Institute, SANS Institute and Smarsh.

“Government agencies are being tasked with making important and difficult decisions about switching over to a cloud-based solution, and SafeGov.org will provide them with a credible and comprehensive resource on best practices in order to minimize potential risks associated with the transition,” said Karen Evans, former e-gov administrator, in a statement released by the website.

The site aggregates cloud-related articles from publications and includes articles by industry groups covering topics such as the economics, security and policies of cloud computing.

Vivek Kundra, former federal chief information officer, called for a cloud-first policy as part of his 25-point IT plan. Under the policy, agencies are required to “default to cloud-based solutions whenever a secure, reliable, cost-effective cloud option exists,” according to the plan. Kundra also said a quarter of the federal government’s $80 billion IT budget would fund cloud computing.

Industry pushes cloud procurement reforms