Government Enforcing a “Cloud-First” Plan
The government has signed into law mandates that require the future use of cloud storage instead of data centers. This would control the current data centers by making requiring agencies to gradually transfer existing data to cloud storage. The policies also include the usage of other cloud services, such as telecommunication services as well as data storage. Additionally, the plan includes requirements for all agencies, government and otherwise, to use cloud IT services that will help make data transfer and storage more efficient and cost-effective.
The Problem with the Reliance on Physical Data Centers
Data centers use an excessive amount of energy to operate and function optimally on a daily basis . These data centers must house, maintain, and operate thousands of hardware used to store all the data transferred through the internet is a daily necessity. Relying on data centers for the storage of all data is not the most secure method of protecting our information. Since data centers are physical locations, they are susceptible to damage due to natural disasters, fires, water damage, equipment theft (although, the centers are secured, there is always even the slightest risk of equipment theft).
Cloud Storage: How does it help?
Cloud storage is an inexpensive and reliable alternative method of storing data. This method uses logical pools with different servers that are managed by a hosting company. To date, 24 government agencies have completely switched over to using cloud services exclusively. Some of these agencies report as much as $2.8 billion in savings. The policies requiring the use of cloud services continue to save the government much-needed funds and moving us a step toward more controlled government spending and, hopefully, making more funds available for use in other areas, such as education and housing, that are desperately in need of additional funding. Also, data centers must be constantly monitored by workers who require expenses, such as workers’ insurance, and HR services (HR services will need a trained staff and hours of additional paid hours to develop and maintain work documents and policies) to operate appropriately. Cloud storage allows for greater storage than data centers and allows for greater flexibility while ensuring that data transferred through the internet remains accessible to users at all time.
Moving Toward Greater Efficiency
Since the policies were put into place in 2010, 3,125 data centers of the 10,584 centers government agencies use have been closed. We anticipate the closure of 5,000 more centers by 2019. Since more actions that require any kind of communication with government agencies, such as passport renewal, federal loan applications, and government job applications, are completed online, using cloud storage will ensure that we will never run out of space to store new data, retrieve old data, have to give up a convenience of completing these applications at home eventually, or identity theft due to insecure data storage methods. As more government agencies begin to switch to cloud storage, we see other companies, like Apple and Facebook, moving toward this more efficient change as well.
Source links:
-http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/190333
–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_storage
Featured images:
- License: Image author owned
Katrina features an Ask Katrina video series on Youtube in a addition to being a product specialist with Rack Solutions
