A recent article published by ZDNet.com highlighted the potential of cloud computing in Chinese classrooms, where a new system is poised to modernize school training within certain regions within the country by the end of 2015.

The article, written by ZDNet contributor Liu Jiayi, stated that “Chinese cloud services provider 3Tcloud is implementing the country’s biggest education cloud project, enabling the local authority to optimize resource allocation and cut maintenance cost. According to a report last week on Chinese tech site CCIDNet.com, the city of Zhuji in Zhejiang–one of China’s most developed provinces – has installed over 6,000 3Tcloud computing terminal devices in 118 schools. The terminals are supported by 28 pieces of blade servers and a 60TB HDD storage installed in the city’s information center.” When fully implemented, the project would take the place of current hardware that is obsolete.

Cloud Computing In The Classroom

In the Western Hemisphere, computer labs throughout school districts are slowly but surely integrating into the cloud. This trend is also gathering an enormous amount of momentum thanks to the private networking capabilities of themes and other software that lets professors interact with students, faculty and parents like never before. Everything from homework assignments to grades can be carefully uploaded, secured and sent to the appropriate groups of authorized individuals plus there is the ability to communicate in real-time while amalgamating several processes that used to take days to perform.

However, some privacy issues remain as parents, children, and administrators struggle to find updated solutions to doing business in a virtual world that has quickly morphed into a technological free for all. Although it is highly convenient to create private social networks, project details, and bulletins within a real-time cloud, there is still a considerable amount of adaptation required on behalf of all involved in order to make the process smoother and more reliable.

Chen Xikun, Director of the Information Technology center at Zhuji’s education bureau was quoted in the ZDNet article as saying, “By using such a system, we could effectively push forward the development of the city’s teaching, resources, research, and evaluation – all of which is done on the cloud. Take teaching on the cloud, for example, students in different courses have full access to all resources available, and it helps the elementary and secondary education of Zhuji develop in a balanced way.”

Streamlining Resources

One of the main arguments for promoting cloud computing in the classroom is the fact that it is almost guaranteed to preserve resources in the long run. Units seldom consume as much energy as outdated hardware; not to mention the fact that pooled resources will ultimately lead to fewer individuals being able to produce more thanks to the amount of information that is accessible at one time from various locations.

Still, the move could potentially lead to a higher unemployment rate among currently qualified personnel that are no longer needed once cloud computing-savvy instructors are able to interact within the cloud. On-site teaching assistants could be replaced by computer interfaces that simply require a few clicks of a mouse to answer frequently asked questions on homework assignments or projects.

“Since the project’s commencement in April 2012, Shanghai-based 3Tcloud has been replacing PCs in the schools in Zhuji with X900 cloud computing terminals, a device that supports virtual machine under CHP protocol and is no bigger than a ADSL modem,” states the ZDNet article.

Here at OnlineStorage, we enjoy keeping our readers up to date on current events that involve data storage and cloud computing. Be sure to check back frequently for more blog entries and feel free to leave a comment if you would like to provide feedback on our articles.

All through the Internet realm, there are news stories covering the continued growth of Cloud Computing that highlight everything from the need for qualified personnel to work in firms scattered across the globe to op-eds that give insight into the future needs of firms within the industry. One such article was recently published by Technorati.com; and focused on the industry’s growth as well as outlining where the concept is headed in upcoming years.

It’s no secret that a growing number of businesses as well as government entities are seeking out ways to better safeguard, manage and access sensitive data. The threat of loss or damage due to hardware failure and lack of security in locally-stored data is very real, and has prompted a trend towards non-locally stored information that can be accessed anywhere in the world provided the user has legitimate login credentials along with an Internet connection.

Cloud Computing News

Technorati’s May 1st article opened by stating, “Cloud computing is getting another boost thanks to Arista Networks’ announcement of a new data switch. The New York Times reports on May 1 that the updated technology will allow for 10 gigabits of data to be moved per second. The switch could lead to better computing centers and is positive news considering the immense growth of cloud computing in recent years. It is being heralded as another step forward for the future of enterprise cloud services.”

The acceleration in the cloud computing industry has been noted in dozens of news stories over the past year, with some going as far as outlining the six-figure annual salary average that is being offered on many job listing websites for qualified management level personnel. Although the highest paying of these opportunities are generally located in the Silicon Valley region, there are also a large number of offers from Asia; which is seeing exponential growth in its remote data storage needs.

Of course, the cloud computing concept is not new by any stretch of the imagination. Although the most common form of remotely stored data a decade ago was third party email providers, Online Storage’s Chuck Romano published a story earlier this week related to Megaupload, and how it paved the way for remotely stored data by offering file sharing services in which users could download popular files such as music .mp3s and documents.

Lag In Cloud Education

Technocrati contributor Lana Bandoim pointed out this week that “more companies are beginning to recognize the benefits of the cloud, but there is still a lag in education. However, the growing interest in cloud computing and cloud ERP software is leading to more businesses offering courses for training. Acumatica, a provider of cloud ERP software, recently revealed it has started the Acumatica University learning system. The company offers courses, videos, exams and surveys that are accessible from any computer or mobile device. Acumatica University has 65 courses that provide training about cloud ERP products.”

Recently, we also brought our readers a story on how there is a noticeable lack of talented individuals available to head cloud computing divisions within companies; especially in Asia, where some firms are actually offering to finance training courses as well as guarantee jobs for those who pass and receive certification.

With billions of dollars at stake annually along with a high level of demand from every major continent on the planet, it looks like the trend toward the cloud will continue to accelerate; at least for the near future. Some firms have gone as far as planning for potential revenue all the way up to the end of this decade.

For the latest news stories related to the cloud computing industry, be sure to check back frequently here at OnlineStorage.com.

Remember the good old days when everything digital was free? All you had to do was pay a little subscription fee and you get access to everything on the internet. You raise the middle finger to those greedy corporate magnets charging you $1 to buy your favorite song. Thanks to your messiah or your guru, you no longer had to worry about shelling out such astronomical amounts for downloading music, films and games. The good old days when Megaupload rule the internet. Can you also remember the withdrawal symptoms you had to go through when you discovered the big, bad, old US government decided to shut down the service? Those days are long gone but, there is hope in the horizon.  Mega cloud is coming to an internet connection near you.

The man behind Megaupload has decided to rebrand himself and offer his disciples more ways to store their data. Is this going to be another file sharing service with illegal copyrighted materials? That is of course the desire of anyone who thinks “FREE” is the best invention in human history.

The new cloud storage service from Mega is not free. It is however cheap and you can expect to pay about $0.12 cents per GB per year.  On a monthly basis, you can expect 100GB for a little less than $10 per month. If you choose the yearly payment plan, you will actually be paying about $0.08 cents per GB. That is very affordable. That is also the reason why those who are not bothered by the reputation of the company will jump at the offer.

What is the service like?

If you are to go by history, there is the likelihood that  some people will be hoping that MegaCloud storage will be a repeat of the past. What you will be getting this time is just a place to store and share your files online. If the plan is to convert it to a social media, then, some people will find ways to share illegal contents.

How do you sign up?

The service is available to the official website. You sign up, pay and drag-n-drop your files. That is all there is to it. Mega Cloud is working with EuroDNS and DigiWeb. Mostly European hosting companies.

Will your data be safe?

Safety is rather relative on the internet. Anything that is out there is a candidate for snooping and theft. What you might need to be worried about is getting your data back if the site or service is axed.  The service will also offer encryption that will prevent others from accessing your data.  However, since Mega was released with its open source code available for all to analyze, there have been quite a bit of security holes uncovered. We can go into a multi-page article on the problems, which have already been plastered all over the internet.  The good news is that the issues can be fixed.  In the meantime, throw caution to the wind if you plan on using this service.

Will MegaCloud be another hit?

If MegaCloud wants to be just another DropBox or just another cloud storage, it will have a hard time convincing people. Giving away free 8GB of storage and backup will not be enough for some users switch.  If the idea is to be able to share data irrespective of copyright laws, that will likely attract potential clients.  It will be difficult to replicate the past. Trying to build a legitimate business based on past illegal setup will be a challenge.  Add in the fact that there are several security flaws in the initial code, only time will tell if this new adventure will succeed.

When you hear all the talk about how wonderful the could is, you will definitely be tempted to take a closer look, wondering what the fuss is all about. Is moving anything to the cloud really that great and will it add value to your company’s IT needs? The answer will depend on who you are asking?

Before getting into the added value you might get from moving to the cloud, it is important to understand what legacy application means. Without getting into complicated explanation. When you hear about legacy applications, you are talking about older applications you have running in your enterprise. Often these will include databases and other desktop based application you might have developed in-house.

Should you move your applications to the cloud?

That is a question that is not that easy to answer. It will mainly depend on the way you do business and how you use information technology. For small companies who already have part of their IT maintenance done by an external party, it will likely not make much sense to move to the cloud if money hasn’t been an issue in the past. You probably also don’t have a lot of servers to maintain. The IT maintenance company logs in remotely to perform regular updates and maybe comes onsite for a few hours a week. In that case, you already have a fixed budget and you don’t have to worry about fluctuating IT cost. This scenario is most similar to private-cloud.

On the other hand, if you have a company where the IT manager is also the receptionist or the secretary, moving some of your applications to the cloud might be cost effective (removes hassle of constant downtime). You don’t have to worry about database and server upgrades. That will often be included in the cloud package you choose. For example, if you have a legacy Oracle server, you could decide to move that database to the cloud using a P2V tool like the Oracle’s Virtual Box. Once, you are in the cloud, creating a new instance of the server for test purposes or redundancy is easier  as you can easily clone the previous database server.

The same type of physical to virtual tools are available to other Microsoft or Linux based systems.

How much will your business save by moving legacy application to the cloud?

You need to understand that being in the cloud is not free. Often, your business needs will decide the value of the move. If moving to the cloud means, your employees can now access their data anywhere, that will likely increase the need for a faster and more expensive cloud solution. You might also decide to let some partners access these applications as well. As you can see, the ease of access could change the business dynamics. On the other hands, more productivity could also lead to more income.

The value of migrating legacy applications to the cloud will depend on doing a good analysis of your current situation and what you plan to achieve. Moving to the cloud doesn’t mean you will no longer need an IT team. You might decide to reduce the amount of IT staff needed to maintain, your Windows/Linux servers and legacy application. Moving to the cloud could also simplify backup and restore. Employees could also be given the needed permissions to restore their files.

The simple rule is, only move legacy applications, if you are currently having a hard time with constant update and maintenance. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

If you’re a person who keeps up with technology and how it has been quickly moving to consumer use over the past few decades, then you’re likely aware of Google Glass; a relatively new concept which allows end users to connect to wireless services while producing images, video and other data in real time. The new device has triggered questions about how much data storage will eventually be needed to secure, maintain and grant access to that information once the technology catches on and is released to more consumers.

In a recent blog post published by Robert Scoble, the tech specialist wrote, “Google Glass is going to need a new kind of cloud computing and Google won’t be able to satisfy all the demand,” Scoble wrote in a widely-linked Google+ post. ”If Google Glass is as big a deal as I think it will be, humans will generate much more data than they do today. Either because of sensor tracking to do things like play location-based games, or do health tracking, or more. Think about Waze, a traffic app, on Google Glass. The new developers will need new cloud computing. Plus, I see Glass as part of a contextual system, one that uses an Internet of Things, but also brings data from your own businesses in along with big data computation that will find new patterns to display on our glass.”

Google Glass

Google Glass may revolutionize the way people worldwide upload and store information; not to mention the slew of similar devices that could come onto the market in short order. According to Wikipedia, “Google Glass is a wearable computer with a head-mounted display (HMD) that is being developed by Google in the Project Glass research and development project, with the mission of producing a mass-market ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format,that can interact with the Internet via natural language voice commands. While the frames do not currently have lenses fitted to them, Google is considering partnering with sunglass retailers such as Ray-Ban or Warby Parker, and may also open retail stores to allow customers to try on the device. The Explorer Edition cannot be used by people who wear prescription glasses, but Google has confirmed that Glass will eventually work with frames and lenses that match the wearer’s prescription; the glasses will be modular and therefore possibly attachable to normal prescription glasses.”

By using voice commands, the traditional mouse clicking or tapping methods of giving commands through a desktop or mobile device interface could eventually go by the wayside; allowing users to create data at a much faster rate than ever before.

Cloud Computing

Since the beginning of our blog here at OnlineStorage, we’ve brought our readers a large number of articles that revolve around the growing demand for cloud computing as the amount of information increases exponentially along with the need to save it remotely. The concept is definitely not new (users of third party mail services such as Yahoo! and Google have been remotely storing their data for years), but exactly how the information will be used and accessed has definitely caught on in recent years as service providers target a growing market of governments and corporations who have a seemingly insatiable need to warehouse everything from hospital records to photos and video content.

Cloud computing training is currently being provided by many firms as they look to hire qualified personnel to help them maintain and attract customers, while IaaS continues to spread globally. Whether Google Glass will become an intricate part of cloud storage remains to be seen, but the technology itself unquestionably could alter the way companies market the cloud.

Business software producer SAP reported its First Quarter 2013 Earnings Friday; announcing that its Cloud Subscription services are generating a massive amount of corporate revenue and are expected to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. Non-IFRS Software and Cloud Subscription Revenue Increased 25% at Constant Currencies according to the official financial report, which can be viewed here. Net profit overall was up a whopping 17 percent in the first quarter compared to 4Q 2012, with the firm’s remote cloud computing business complimenting its long-standing company software sales.

SAP, based in Germany, reported Fourth Quarter profits of €520 million (approximately $680 million US Dollars) as total revenue jumped to €3.6 billion throughout the company. SAP’s earnings report stated that “the Americas region delivered a strong first quarter, with non-IFRS software and cloud subscription revenue growing by 49% (51% at constant currencies), driven by excellent software revenue performance in Latin America and strong cloud subscription and support revenue growth in North America. The EMEA region saw solid growth of 13% (15% at constant currencies) in non-IFRS software and cloud subscription revenue, which is impressive in light of continued market uncertainty. Strong year-on-year software revenue growth rates in many markets including Russia, Switzerland, and the UK contributed to this performance. Non-IFRS software and cloud subscription revenue in the Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region declined, as several markets in APJ started more slowly in 2013 after a record fourth quarter in 2012 and new leadership in some markets. The company expects the APJ region to be back on track in the second quarter.”

Cloud Computing Outlook

The outlook for cloud computing firms worldwide is extremely optimistic currently, with a growing number of corporations seeking out qualified individuals to pave the way to the future within the cloud that could continue to thrive through 2020 and beyond. As large firms, corporations and governments look for a safe and secure method for storing, maintaining and accessing sensitive data, cloud subscription services similar to those offered by SAP are expected to increase in demand; up to a point where revenue generated from these services could account for more than half of the entire corporation’s income.

“Our industry is at a fundamental transformation point, driven by the convergence of mobile, cloud and big data. SAP’s 25% growth shows that we are not only leading this change but also gaining significant worldwide market share,” said SAP Co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe Friday. “Customers continue to choose our innovations to help them run better, and SAP HANA is the next-generation platform for all companies to innovate their business, drive speed across the entire enterprise and reduce costs. SAP’s pipeline is strong, and we are confident that we will achieve our full-year outlook.”

The report coincides with other financial statements released by cloud computing firms which show an increasing percentage of revenue being received from subscription services in which businesses are aiming to secure sensitive data and access expanded server space.

Long Term Profitability

SAP CFO Werner Brandt added, “Non-IFRS software and cloud subscription revenue exceeded €800 million for the first time in a first quarter. We saw very strong revenue contribution from SAP HANA and continued growth in the cloud. The solid top line performance and continued cost discipline resulted in double-digit growth in Non-IFRS operating profit at constant currencies. We are on track to deliver on our 2015 goals and our overall financial objective of profitable growth over the long term.”

Just how far the cloud computing boom will take certain companies remains to be seen, but it is clear that the industry’s momentum is building and demand is far from waning. For future reports on cloud computing and data storage, be sure to check back frequently here at OnlineStorage.com.

When you have a big company like Amazon offering affordable, good cloud storage service, it can be difficult to imagine what else there is to give to potential clients. That is precisely what the future holds for anyone or any company thinking of getting into the cloud business. Building an infrastructure from scratch to compete with the likes of DropBox and Amazon takes time and effort. By the time you get up to speed, the dynamics of the market might have changed. That is why those who already have a steady client base will often try to capitalize on this. It could be done by tying existing service into the cloud. That is exactly what DreamHost is trying to achieve. If you think about web hosting and the way people have always used hosted services on the world wide web, you might be tempted to say, “there is nothing new in the cloud”. The fact is, the concept is not new but things are a little different in the age of PaaS, SaaS and IaaS.

What is the DreamHost vision?

There is so much free storage you can offer to entice new clients. There is also no reason for someone who is happy with DropBox or Amazon S3 service to move to another provider. DreamHost approach is to make the offer more enticing that clients will come rushing over.

Lets take a moment to look at the pricing. You pay about 7 cents in dollars per GB of storage. The idea is that you pay only for what you use. The first plan is for 20GB of storage that will cost you only $1.35 per month. That is an amount that is within the reach of many. What if you want less than 20GB, well, that is another story.

On the other hand, what is Amazon offering? You will get charged about 8 cents to 10 cents per GB. If you look at it from a pricing point of view, you will note that DreamHost is trying to undercut the cloud storage offering from Amazon S3. Is the 2 cents or 3 cents saving worth the move?

Take a look at things from a Terabyte point of view. How much will you be saving if you need 1TB of storage with a 2 cents price difference. That will be $20 of savings per month. For those who need a storage space of 10TB, that is will be $200. It is a considerable sum for individuals but nothing to worry about for enterprise users.

Will you move your data from Amazon S3 in order to save maybe $20 per month? Most people will likely stay put. The reasons are multiple. How long will it take you to move your data and get used to another user interface? What if you have some applications tied to Amazon’s APIs? What is the guaranteed up time?

When you take a closer look at the questions above, you will realize that price is not the only fact to take into consideration.

DreamHost’s offering will likely keep current customers happy with their extended cloud storage service. It will be a harder task getting others to switch.

Earlier this week, long-standing PC maker Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ) its all new HP Moonshot system, an attempt to deliver a reworked infrastructure by using significantly less energy and space; resulting in massive cost reduction compared to traditional servers.

Meg Whitman, president and chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard stated, “With nearly 10 billion devices connected to the internet and predictions for exponential growth, we’ve reached a point where the space, power and cost demands of traditional technology are no longer sustainable. HP Moonshot marks the beginning of a new style of IT that will change the infrastructure economics and lay the foundation for the next 20 billion devices.”

Declining PC Market

HP once dedicated nearly all its resources toward the sale and maintenance of the personal computer market, which dominated to home technology scene around the turn of the century. However, that market has received an enormous amount of competition in recent years not only from Macintosh desktops along with laptops, but also from mobile devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry and Android. Throw in a growing number of individuals worldwide who are using tap screens to navigate the Internet from a tablet computer such as the Samsung Galaxy and iPad, and you have a law of diminishing returns for the once dominant company.

HP’s shares peaked with the dot-com bubble in early 2000 at $75 per share; consistently declining ever since. Although the stock is currently priced at $20.90, shares have dipped as low as $11.35 over the past 12 months due to an overall lack of investor confidence in the firm. With the move to cloud computing, HP is looking to shore up confidence and enter an extremely expanding market.

HP Moonshot

According to HP’s official news release on its Investor Relations website, “HP has continued to push the boundaries of technology and innovation by ushering in a paradigm shift that paved the way for the first “software defined” server that enables enterprises to optimize their servers based on specific workload needs. Built from HP’s industry-leading server intellectual property (IP) and 10 years of extensive research from HP Labs, the company’s central research arm, HP Moonshot delivers a significant improvement in energy, space, cost and simplicity.

The new HP Moonshot system is the second-generation server from HP’s Project Moonshot. This new class of server is engineered to address the IT challenges created by social, cloud, mobile and big data. HP Moonshot servers are built from chips more commonly found in smartphones and tablets, which allow the servers to deliver reduced energy use and a high-density footprint, all at a significantly lower cost.”

Cloud Computing Industry

The cloud computing industry has surged since the turn of the decade as more and more governments as well as corporate entities seek out ways to store, access and maintain big data. Local municipalities have been turning to remote storage methods for some time as they seek ways to amalgamate data ranging from personal information to statistics.

In fact, there appears to be a shortage of qualified personnel available to fill certain cloud industry positions; especially overseas in the Asia region. Some companies are offering paid courses for trainees with the promise of a follow-up job. Add the concept of a distributed workforce to the mix, and you have a combination that could see the continuance of a trend that has seen a growing amount of individuals working remotely from a home office for firms located across the globe.

HP also has other plans when it comes to streamlining its infrastructure. “HP also announced a comprehensive roadmap of workload-optimized HP ProLiant Moonshot servers incorporating processors from a broad ecosystem of HP partners including AMD, AppliedMicro, Calxeda, Intel and Texas Instruments Incorporated,” the firm stated Wednesday. “Scheduled to be released in the second half of 2013, the new HP ProLiant Moonshot servers will support emerging web, cloud and massive scale environments, as well as analytics and telecommunications. Future servers will be delivered for big data, high-performance computing, gaming, financial services, genomics, facial recognition, video analysis and other applications.”

For updated news stories on the cloud computing industry, be sure to check back frequently here at OnlineStorage.com.

There is a lot happening in the cloud and there are brand names like Amazon and Dropbox that most users will be familiar with. That said, there are other healthy companies making millions that most people wouldn’t know about. That simply explains how the cloud ecosystem is teaming with innovation and services that are making the lives of many easier in exchange for a modest sum. Remember when you last tried to send an email only to be told that the file you’ve attached is a little too big. How frustrating can that be? The problem at times is that some files cannot be easily separated and you have to find another way to get the information to the intended third party.  What do you do when you want to send large files?

That is where YouSendIt came into the picture. They are no longer a startup. The company has been in business since the 90s. YouSendIt has been helping people move files around even before PaaS, IaaS and SaaS became popular. The dynamics of the business have changed since then and they way people share data has evolved.

YouSendIt has been keeping up with the times and recently purchased “Found” a technology company that specializes in helping users find their documents no matter where it is stored. That might sound strange to many but how many times have you stored a file and a few days later, you no longer remember on which device you saved it. In the age of iPad, tablets and other mobile devices, people tend to spread their data across many gadgets. In order to simplify accessing all your data irrespective of which device they are stored, YouSendIt, wants to help make your life easier.

How does it work?

If you have ever used any cloud service, you would have noticed that ease of use is one of the keys to getting clients. YouSendIt is geared towards businesses and that is what makes it different from the likes of DropBox. For example, if you have ever received a digital, scanned copy of a document that you need to sign and send back to the originator, what would you do? The traditional way is to print the document, sign it, scan it and send it back. What if you can open the document, read it, sign it with your tablet and send it back? That is more efficient and rather “cool”. That is one of the services that YouSendIt offers and one of the many reasons cooperate users are using it.

The company also gives you the possibility of sharing, syncing files from multiple devices. The last feature is not unique to YouSendIt but it makes a huge difference for businesses that want to be able to pay a monthly or yearly subscription and deal with the same service provider for ease of administration.

How much does it cost?

Like anything on the cloud, it will depend on your level of use. It is free If you want to take the service for a test drive with limited e-signature,  storage and file sharing size of 50MB. For those who want an elaborate plan, the price ranges from $10 to $15 per month.

In an official public document released April 1st, 2013, U.S Department of Navy Chief Information Officer Terry A. Halvorsen released a statement outlining the Navy’s new policy regarding cloud computing. The memorandum’s subject, Department of Navy Approach to Cloud Computing, refers to policies that will be enacted under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Committee on National Security Systems Instruction (CNSSI).

Cost Savings

In the document, DON proposes several information technology changes that will assist the department in accumulating, storing and accessing data remotely. Halvorsen states that “as a first step, DON low-impact information systems and mission functions will move to commercial CSPs that meet mission and security requirements, unless a more cost effective DoD solution is identified. This enables compliance with reference (b) while achieving necessary cost savings. A low-impact system is defined in references (e) and (f) as an information system in which the loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability could be expected to have limited adverse effect. DON organizations are to categorize as low-impact those publicly accessible information systems, applications, and web sites that contain only information previously approved for public release.”

Cloud computing has been cited as a cost effective method for data storage for more than five years by many private companies, and the DON’s move to issue a new policy regarding remote information comes as no surprise. The issue was discussed back in February at an Information Technology Conference in San Diego in which the CIO and his deputy, Janice Haith, expressed a need for cutting costs within the department.

Certification Process

Halvorsen added last week that he “will use the DON’s initial implementations of commercial and governmental cloud hosting services to define the DON security documentation and certification standards and processes unique to cloud systems. Reciprocity of accreditation decisions and the artifacts supporting those decisions will be used to significantly reduce the time and expense of the DoD and Federal certification processes. This approach will also identify the need for additional security controls or verification testing.”

Working side by side, the two will be responsible for ensuring that all systems are properly certified and formally approved by the appropriate Designated Approval Authority, verifying that required entries are made in the DON IT Portfolio Repository (DITPR-DON) and DON Applications and Database Management System (DADMS), and making sure that commercial CSPs are used to support low-impact systems and mission functions, unless a more cost effective DoD solution is identified.

They will also establish a governance process to adjudicate requested exceptions to the policy and analyze alternatives to identify the most cost effective hosting environment available for medium impact systems, as they are defined in references. The analysis will evaluate commercial, Federal, and DoD solutions.

Forbes News Coverage

Forbes Magazine ran a story on Monday, April 8th, which alluded to the new policy and gave an opinion on how the department will adjust to the realities of cloud computing.

Forbes contributor Reuven Cohen wrote that the “latest announcement continues the Navy on a path toward greater and more efficient usage of cloud computing as a central part of its IT strategy. A major part of the proposal focuses on the concept of an Enterprise Cloud Service Broker which is assigned to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). The memo does note that the broker concept is still being developed by DoD and is not fully in place and is pending further guidance from the DoD CIO.”

For the latest news and articles related to cloud computing and online data storage, be sure to check back frequently here at OnlineStorage.com.