Almost hot on the heels of the US Government’s stated intention to adopt cloud computing and various states going down the cloud route via Google, the United Kingdom Government has nailed its colours to the mast and announced that it, too, would be introducing cloud computing. It is believed that the government can cut its IT bill from £16billion to just over £3billion – and let’s face it, it needs all the financial help it can get after almost bankrupting the country!
Core to the development announced by Cabinet Officer Angela Smith is the creation of 12 highly secure data centres costing an estimated £250million each which will replace the existing 500 currently used by the government, police forces and local authorities.
The most interesting point , however, is that the government will push for open source software across its four million desktop computers thus threatening a large hole in Microsoft’s profits with an estimated saving of £400million. Guestimates prepared for the government suggest that the new cloud base could save around £900million in the first five years and a further annual saving of £300million thereafter.
While a spokesman has admitted they have been looking at what both Microsoft and Google have to offer, the government has not ruled out alternatives that would guarantee that UK citizens’ personal data is not exported oversees.
Looking At VOIP, Too
But the revolution in government thinking does just stop there. It also wants to build its own “app store” of software to act as a central resource by re-using software that has been developed elsewhere and can be reapplied by other bodies. There is also an ugly rumour that the powers that be are looking at replacing physical phone lines with cheaper VOIP systems by 2017, two years after the study anticipates the cloud will start operating.
There must, of course, be a word of warning, The UK government has not enjoyed a good reputation for innovative thinking. In 1885 the civil service bought its first typewriter against stiff opposition from the in-house calligraphers and then 20 years later installed its first telephone – a mere 30 years after the technology was first invested.
Government backed IT initiatives also have a terrible reputation, such as the current NHS debacle, where projects run out of control, burst through budget ceilings and are delivered years later, if at all.
It would be nice to think that the government office of the future would be powered by lightweight laptops or netbook computers using Google Chrome or a similar Linux based system so the next time a civil servant loses one in the back of a taxi or train there is no sensitive data on a hard drive, but somehow I have a sneaking feeling that in 10 years time the new system will still be sitting partly completed on a drawing board somewhere.
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