Choosing a cloud approach

Grazed from FederalTimes. Author: Editorial Staff.

U.S. federal government agencies are adopting cloud infrastructure and services at a growing pace. Over the past few years, the Department of the Interior, General Services Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Forest Service and others have moved ahead with cloud implementations, ranging in scope and size.

As they transition, many of the early adopters are discovering the benefits of implementing a hybrid cloud computing strategy. A hybrid cloud provides both on-premise and off-site resources that allow agencies to gain the cost benefits of a public or community cloud for the applications and data that are appropriate for those environments, while utilizing the security of a private cloud and managing risk for sensitive data and applications…

In addition, a hybrid cloud allows agencies to leverage their existing information technology investments and use the best resources for the workload at hand while having the scalability to expand the capacity of the private cloud as needed. Hybrid clouds can also improve resiliency and disaster recovery by using multiple providers. When combined with open standards, a hybrid cloud can deliver the interoperability required to achieve the scalability and agility necessary for a dynamic cloud implementation…

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