Cloud Computing: Feds Could Save $20 Billion With Better IT Infrastructure Initiatives

Grazed from NextGov. Author: Frank Konkel.

Perhaps data center consolidation, virtualization, cloud computing, remote access and infrastructure diversification aren’t the sexiest terms in the federal repertoire, but they do hold the keys to as much as $20 billion in annual savings, according to a study by Meritalk. The study, underwritten by Brocade, is based on survey results from 300 federal network managers who estimate that if the government were to fully leverage all five initiatives, it could save about 24 percent of the government’s $80 billion information technology budget.

The survey’s results sound promising, but there’s a caveat: Two-thirds of the surveyed network managers reported their networks are ill-equipped to meet current mission needs, and much further away from being able to fully embrace newer tech initiatives like cloud computing. If network managers could magically flip a switch and significantly increase network speed by approximately 26 percent, the survey claims the government could cash in $11 billion in savings in one year…

“The U.S. federal government has the potential to drive an additional $11.2 billion in annual savings by fully leveraging consolidation, virtualization, cloud computing, remote access, and infrastructure diversification,” said Anthony Robbins, vice president of Brocade’s federal business. “Agencies should focus on the network to improve capacity, connections, reliability, and security, and consider moving systems and applications to the cloud to generate additional savings.”…

Read more from the source @ http://www.nextgov.com/cloud-computing/2014/05/feds-could-save-20-billion-better-it-infrastructure-initiatives-study-finds/84925/?oref=ng-dropdown

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