A Snapshot of the Movement to Cloud Computing [#Infographic]
Cloud computing has become a priority for federal agencies as cloud storage prices continue to drop and security standards tighten. In addition, cloud initiatives also are conducive to mobility and telework, which are important technology topics within the government.
The growth of cloud computing, as demonstrated in the infographic below, is affecting more than just IT staffs. Workers are gaining access to tools that are friendly on any device, as long as an Internet connection is available. Strategic conversations about technology are changing drastically, too. While the “consumerization” of IT has some workers worried about their jobs, others are embracing their new roles, according to James Urquhart of GigaOM:
Now, however, the game has changed significantly. General infrastructure is available on a cashflow-friendly basis to anyone who wants it. Add to that the variety of innovative software tools and services that have evolved thanks to the internet, open source and the new economics of cloud computing, and developers are finding utility services a much more palatable option than internal IT for many classes of application development and deployment.
In the era of cloud computing, what the business requires of a central IT department is coordination of the application system — aiding the various application owners with what has to happen for their software to be a “good citizen” within the computing environment as a whole.
If critical mass is evidence enough to prove that the cloud is truly the future of computing, then we have arrived. Check out the infographic below to see just how big the cloud will be by 2015.
