TechAmerica Foundation Unveils U.S. Cloud Computing Roadmap

The path to moving the U.S. government to the Cloud and keeping America at the forefront of Cloud Innovation

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The TechAmerica Foundation today released the highly anticipated recommendations from the Commission on the Leadership Opportunity in U.S. Deployment of the Cloud (CLOUD2), which deliver detailed guidance to help the federal government adopt cloud computing technologies and the necessary policy incentives needed to keep the U.S. on the innovation forefront of cloud computing.

The Commission, led by salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff and VCE Chairman and CEO Michael D. Capellas, provided recommendations and a "Cloud First Buyer's Guide for Government" to the Administration at a press conference in Washington, D.C. with satellite events in San Jose, CA and Dallas, TX, two hubs of American innovation. The CLOUD2 Commission was created in an effort to further the Obama Administrations' Cloud First Policy, with their encouragement.

"Today's recommendations by the commission will help further accelerate adoption of cloud computing within the government infrastructure," said Michael Capellas, chairman and CEO, VCE and the Commission's Co-chair.  "Faster adoption of cloud computing will strengthen the United States' leadership position in the global marketplace and ignite creation of jobs that will be in high demand over the next decade."

"The debate around cloud computing is over - everyone agrees the shift to the cloud is inevitable," said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com and the Commission's Co-chair. "The Cloud First Buyers Guide for Government provides the best practices for how agencies can evaluate and deploy cloud services, helping them make huge gains in productivity and efficiency."

The Commission's Cloud First Buyers Guide for Government was developed to assist government agencies as they evaluate and purchase cloud services and solutions.

The 14 recommendations focus on four vitally important areas to cloud computing:

• Trust – individuals and organizations must be confident that the cloud can meet their needs including security, privacy and availability.
• Transnational Data Flows – the cloud is not defined by national borders; businesses and data flow across international borders and the United States must lead by example in dealing with these challenges, ensuring the full realization of the cloud capabilities.
• Transparency- cloud providers will earn confidence from corporate America and government agencies by providing users meaningful ways to evaluate cloud implementations and for vendors to share relevant and reliable information about their capabilities to build trust in the system.
• Transformation – for full adoption of the cloud, there must be a change in how the federal government acquires technology; an investment in improving technology infrastructure including expediting broadband deployment and the move to IPv6; a commitment to ensuring that education and training priorities align with the needs of a cloud workforce; and creating incentives to encourage the global development and adoption of cloud technologies.

"We brought together 71 of the greatest cloud thinkers in our country to develop the blueprint to continue American leadership in cloud computing and what they've created will set the pace for the rest of the world," said Phil Bond, president and CEO of TechAmerica and member of the TechAmerica Foundation board. "The Commission has delivered that blueprint to the Administration and Congress and we are committed to working with them to make it a reality."

The Commission was composed of 71 of the country's top experts from industry and academia who dedicated over 2000 hours of work both in person and in the cloud.

CLOUD2 Resources

• Cloud First, Cloud Fast: Recommendations for Innovation, Leadership and Job Creation: www.techamericafoundation.org/cloud2
• The full list of CLOUD2 commissioners – www.techamericafoundation.org/cloud-commission-commissioners
• Cloud First Buyer's Guide For Government - www.cloudbuyersguide.org

Quotes from the Commission Leadership

Dan Reed, Corporate Vice President, Technology Policy Group, Microsoft Corp., and the Commercial Sector Co-Vice Chair for the Commission.

"I believe the recommendations outlined in this report will assist U.S. companies in enhancing their global competitiveness and advance the digital economy through the use of cloud computing. Cloud services can allow companies of all sizes, in all sectors, to be more nimble and responsive to customer needs by allowing them to focus on their core competencies." 

James W. Sheaffer, president, CSC North American Public Sector and the Co- vice Chair focused on government adoption of cloud solutions.

"In cloud computing, the U.S. can achieve global leadership if we act boldly and create an environment of cooperation among government, academia, and the private sector.  By embracing the cloud, government can demonstrate, through example, the unprecedented opportunity this transformational technology offers to improve government performance and reduce IT costs."

Michael Nelson, Visiting Professor, Internet Studies, Communication, Culture and Technology Program, Georgetown University, and the Commission's Academic Co-Chair.

"The Cloud is already helping companies and individuals cut the cost of computing.  But, more importantly, it is accelerating the pace of innovation, providing powerful new tools, and enabling entirely new business models--in all sectors of the economy. Smart U.S. policy decisions helped foster the growth of the World Wide Web, e-commerce, and smartphones; this report can help policy makers ensure that government policies and regulations help (and not hinder) growth of Cloud computing."

John Mallery, Research Scientist, MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and the Commission's Academic Co-Chair.

"The cloud commission report represents a milestone in public-private partnership to address today's cyber threat environment. It represents an industry consensus around trustworthy cloud computing that will drive adoption as customers perceive providers assuming responsibility and offering transparency. To promote continuing U.S. leadership in cloud security, the report makes a number of strategic recommendations involving risk management, defensive coordination, standards development, continuous monitoring, educational initiatives and advanced R&D to maintain leadership."

About TechAmerica Foundation

TechAmerica Foundation educates industry executives, policy makers and opinion leaders on the promise of technological innovation to advance prosperity, security and the general welfare. Launched in 1981, the Foundation is a 501c(3) non-profit, non-partisan affiliate of TechAmerica, which is the leading voice and resource for the U.S. technology industry. The Foundation disseminates award-winning industry, policy and market research covering topics such as U.S. competitiveness in a global economy, innovation in government, and other areas of national interest. It also organizes conferences and seminars to explore pertinent issues with government and industry representatives and to share the Foundation's findings. Learn more about TechAmerica Foundation at www.techamericafoundation.org.

SOURCE TechAmerica Foundation