The Philippines' Information and Communications Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-ICTO) and the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) are encouraging government institutions to adopt the use of cloud applications over traditional IT systems, as it unveiled a new online service called GovCloud or Government Cloud, which will enable government agencies to use secure online applications for their various computing requirements.
The project was unveiled by Integrated Government Philippines (iGovPhil) Project at the start of a four-day celebration for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Month 2013, GovCloud.
“With the GovCloud, agencies can maximize their resources and significantly reduce operating costs as they only use server resources when they need it, and when server load is high they can be allocated additional resources almost instantly,” said DOST-ICTO Undersecretary Louis Casambre.
The GovCloud is essentially a private cloud for the government and will be available for government agencies and their employees.
“Initially, basic cloud applications such as GovMail (government email), web hosting, and payment gateway applications will be available,” said DOST-ASTI’s Denis Villorente, iGovPhil project director.
“Project management, storage cloud, VoIP and government portal applications will be available in the near future. Custom cloud computing applications and platforms will also be available for those who need it,” he added.
By sharing computing resources through a high speed network connection or the Internet, applications can be allocated resources when needed and as needed, thus, reducing hardware acquisition and maintenance costs, essentially creating an “economies of scale” for computing.
Several government agencies have already expressed interest in GovCloud.
“The GovCloud experience for government agencies will be significantly enhanced with the activation of the fiber core network, which will provide high-speed data connectivity to iGovPhil’s data center that hosts the GovCloud,” Casambre said.
The government fiber optic network is slated to be operational next month.
This article is originally posted on Enterprise Innovation website