We’ve written several stories in the past week about government initiatives at both the state and federal level to promote cloud computing and virtualization in the public sphere.
But is the government’s move to the cloud inevitable?
The GAO issued a report late last week titled “Government-wide Guidance Needed to Assist Agencies in Implementing Cloud Computing.” The report casts doubts on the government’s adoption of cloud computing, highlighting some of the security risks as well as the government’s general lack of preparedness for such a move.
The GAO looks at several agencies, including the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA), and assesses their adoption of the cloud. And repeatedly, the report says that an agency has established a committee or a program, but is lacking the guidance or the planning to follow-through.
Will this lack of overarching strategy as identified by the GAO prevent the government’s implementation of cloud computing? Or will the efforts and advocacy of cloud evangelist and White House CIO Vivek Kundra make the difference and force the government to catch up to the private sector’s adoption of the cloud?
