As technology advances, government agencies normally seek assistance from eligible companies in keeping with modern standards for efficiency. When it comes to the United States keeping up with advancements of cloud services and open standards, that means teaming with IBM for opening a 500-employee Federal Cloud Innovation Center in Washington D.C.
Connecting various government agencies with specialist in cloud computing, experts at The Federal Cloud Innovation Center will range from IBM researchers to IT infrastructure architects to software developers. Agency-specific consultants also be apart of the staff.
Tasked with heading the center and developing strategies for government clients in emerging areas will be Jane Snowdon, IBM's chief innovation officer for U.S. Federal. This comes as the computer giant became a member of the OpenStack Foundation which is behind the development, distribution and implementation of the OpenStack cloud operating system. Federal agencies can use OpenStack for building public or private clouds. IBM has invested more than $6 billion in acquisitions to accelerate since 2007 and has a network of more than 25 global cloud delivery centers.
General Manager of IBM U.S. Federal Anne Altman explains the program as something practical with advances in technology.
"As agencies look to the cloud for IT cost savings and innovation, the Federal Cloud Innovation Center will help government agencies explore and understand why adopting open standards for cloud computing is the right path to meeting this goal," read an email from Altman.
With security becoming a number one issue, the center will also work with agencies for new methods of data encryption in the cloud.
The IBM Federal Cloud Innovation Center is part of IBM's cross-company cloud computing efforts and also participating in the center, are staff members from IBM Research, IBM Software, IBM Systems and Technology, IBM Global Business Services and IBM Technology Services. One of 10 companies that have signed indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts with the Department of the Interior (DOI), each signing is valued up to $1 billion each.
