U.S. cyber commander issues cloud support

Recently, three companies announced they have formed an alliance to strengthen the cloud in order to propel government adoption of the managed IT service. Coincedintally, the U.S. cyber commander issued his support for the cloud at the same time.

The government has major plans for cloud adoption, moving away from in-house data centers, and instead relying on the cloud for hosted applications online and storage of sensitive information.

The alliance will focus on improving the trust between cloud customers and providers, an area in which some have felt the cloud is weak; however, other experts have claimed the cloud improves security, especially for the government, as information and applications are consolidated instead of spread across thousands of desktop PCs.

Army General Keith Alexander, who is also the commander of the U.S. cyber command and director of the National Security Agency, recently stated that the shift to cloud computing will be an easy one. He feels this way because of his department's due diligence that produced a number of viable options.

The public sector's move to the cloud has been outlined in the 2012 federal budget, which President Barack Obama recently relayed. U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra recently stated the move to the cloud will save governmental agenices 40 percent of their budget.