Cloud Improves SEC’s Bottom Line

Grazed from InformationWeek. Author: Henry Kenyon.

By moving its core operating functions to the cloud, the Securities and Exchange Commission has increased the speed and flexibility of its financial data services and saved money through increased efficiency, a top official claims. Responsible for regulating the securities industry, the SEC manages massive amounts of data for analysis and to provide the finance industry and individual investors with updated information. To do this, the commission’s website and data centers must be able to absorb massive spikes in use.

Over the last three years, the SEC has modernized its IT infrastructure, improved funding for its online component, and started to move its core functions to public and private clouds, said Thomas Bayer, the commission’s CIO, who spoke at a recent government cloud computing symposium held by the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association…

By moving to the cloud, he noted that the SEC saved $18.5 million in operations and maintenance costs in 2013, adding that the commission saw reduced costs both for its private cloud and even more for use of the public cloud. In 2013, the SEC consolidated its data centers into two centers supporting a private cloud. After moving its systems to the private cloud, the SEC then leased its space, power, and cooling needs from vendors. By taking these steps, the commission reduced its operating costs and improved the uptime of its site, Bayer said…

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