Federal Cloud Computing: Elements, Issues & Implementation Challenges

Cloud computing is a new name for an old concept; the delivery of computing services from a remote location, analogous to the way electricity, water, and other utilities are provided to most customers. Cloud computing services are delivered through a network, usually the Internet. Some cloud services are adaptations of familiar applications, such as e-mail and word processing. Others are new applications that never existed as a local application, such as on-line maps and social networks. Since 2009, the federal government has been shifting its data storage needs to cloud-based services and away from agency-owned data centres. This shift is intended to reduce the total investment by the federal government in information technology (IT) (data centres), as well as realise other stated advantages of cloud adoption: efficiency, accessibility, collaboration, rapidity of innovation, reliability, and security. This book examines current elements, issues and implementation challenges in federal cloud computing with a focus on federal information technology reform management.