New NIST reports to aid U.S. agency use of cloud apps

Recently, the National Institute of Standards and Technology released two documents concerning cloud computing - one defining the managed IT service and the other providing security guidelines. 

The documents come in response to federal chief information officer Vivek Kundra's request for security guidelines as part of his effort to boost adoption of cloud computing by government bodies.

The security guidelines are meant to help federal IT managers prepare for cloud projects, not instill fear in them, as Tim Grance, a computer scientist at NIST and one of the reports' authors, relayed.

"Public cloud computing is a very viable choice" for government agencies, Grance said, Computerworld relays. "We are not by any means saying 'don't do it.' But you have to be careful. You got to make sure that [cloud computing] is part of a coherent overall strategic process."

Reportedly, government IT spending will increase during 2011, with 82 percent of state government IT decision-makers expected to make new software investments, according to a CDW report. With these new NIST documents in place, Kundra's goal of expanded government cloud use could come to fruition quickly.