{"id":1717,"date":"2010-11-30T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2010-11-30T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.formtek.com\/blog\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2010-11-30T07:00:24","modified_gmt":"2010-11-30T15:00:24","slug":"cloud-computing-feds-test-the-water-of-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/cloud-computing-feds-test-the-water-of-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Computing: Feds Test the Water of the Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the face of diminishing budgets,\u00a0Cloud computing is looking attractive to government agencies. \u00a0But most agencies are unsure of how to proceed and are looking for guidance. \u00a0 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has begun an investigation that seeks to determine how agencies can best take advantage of \u00a0cloud technology. \u00a0As part of the investigation, NIST is creating a cloud computing simulation model within their Information Technology Lab (ITL). \u00a0The code name for the NIST cloud project is Koala.<\/p>\n

Dawn Leaf, senior executive of cloud computing at NIST, said that \u00a0“the objective of the project is to assess and characterize resource allocation algorithms within a public infrastructure-as-a-service cloud model.” \u00a0Leaf expects to have their first set of results from Koala and be able to make recommendations by early to mid 2011.<\/p>\n

NIST’s Project Koala aims to compare resource algorithms for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud computing. \u00a0The goal is to investigate different cloud architectures and to be able to better understand and characterize the complex nature of the cloud. \u00a0Parallel to the work being done on Koala, government agencies have started to work with major cloud vendors like Google, Microsoft and IBM to help plan the build-out of government cloud infrastructure. \u00a0 The vendors will help answer questions about interoperability, portability and security. \u00a0Leaf emphasized that while the government will try to move forward in a vendor-neutral fashion, it realized that it needs it work closely with the broad community of vendors to ensure the viability of any cloud plans they develop.<\/p>\n

Project Koala will look at a complete range of use cases for deploying the cloud in government agencies. \u00a0Leaf commented that some use cases for the cloud have clear cut solutions, but many do not. \u00a0For example, one use case is to move data from an existing government web sites to a public cloud. \u00a0That kind of data isn’t sensitive so moving it to the cloud is not a reason for concern. \u00a0On the other hand, government information which is sensitive and needs to be managed in a secure way in a cloud scenario would be best implemented within a private cloud environment. \u00a0The problem is that most government use cases aren’t always so clear cut; most fall into a gray area in between the two. \u00a0In those cases, a hybrid cloud model is needed.<\/p>\n

The first phase of Koala is to define in vendor-neutral terms exactly what a cloud structure should look like. \u00a0The model should not prescribe or advocate a particular implementation, but it must be flexible enough to be able to support a solution for a variety of government use cases. \u00a0Other deliverables of Koala are a roadmap for how to proceed going forward and a gap analysis between existing cloud standards and the roadmap developed by the project.<\/p>\n

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In the face of diminishing budgets,\u00a0Cloud computing is looking attractive to government agencies. \u00a0But most agencies are unsure of how to proceed and are looking for guidance. \u00a0 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has begun an investigation…<\/span><\/p>\n

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