The State of the Cloud

PURPOSE:

• To explore the financial and technological benefits of cloud computing.
• To examine the current challenges agencies face in adopting cloud solutions for their information technology requirements.
• To provide an opportunity for private sector experts to brief members on the benefits and challenges of cloud computing solutions, including access to the federal cloud market.

BACKGROUND:

• The federal government spends more than $80 billion annually for IT purposes – over 70 percent is spent on legacy systems.
• In 2011, the U.S. Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, published a Federal Cloud Computing Strategy and instituted a Cloud First policy.
– The policy is intended to accelerate the pace at which the government will realize the value of cloud computing by requiring agencies to evaluate safe, secure cloud computing options before making any new investments.
• Four years later, the Government Accountability Office found that of the seven major agencies examined, two percent of their IT budget was spent on cloud in 2014 – a one percent increase from 2012.
• In January 2015, the Congressional Research Service issued a report highlighting the challenges facing agencies transitioning to cloud services.
– The report found that, “some agency CIOs have stated that in spite of the stated security advantages of cloud computing, they are, in fact, concerned about moving their data from their data centers, which they manage and control, to outsourced cloud services.

WITNESSES & TESTIMONIES

Mr. Mark Kneidinger

Director, Federal Network Resilience Division

Office of Cybersecurity & Communications

Department of Homeland Security

Dr. Mauli Agrawal

Vice President of Research

University of Texas – San Antonio

Mr. John Engates

Chief Technology Officer

Rackspace

Mr. Mark Ryland

Director, Solutions Architecture and Chief Architect

Amazon Web Services

Mr. Alan Boissy

Product Line Manager

VMware vCloud Government Service