Government cloud adoption set for 'surge'

The U.S. government is likely to increase its adoption of cloud services dramatically in 2011, according to a recent InformationWeek report.

The report suggests the increased deployment of managed cloud services will go hand-in-hand with a reduction in the number of government contact centers, which will be consolidated into a smaller number of facilities.

Government agencies are likely to increasingly utilize cloud services and online self-service sites to consolidate their customer service centers and helpdesks.

According to the report, many government agencies are facing problems caused by a lack of data storage capacity. Many agencies gather and store a large volume of data that needs to be retained, and cloud services will likely be utilized to manage this load in 2011, according to the report.

The report also predicted mobile devices to play a more central role in government IT solutions in 2011, with cloud services enabling a new model of IT infrastructure that will enable government employees to utilize new work methods and carry out their jobs in more locations.

The U.S. government recently announced plans to implement a "cloud first" IT policy by fiscal 2012.