virtualisation
Oh, there you are…….
21/02/12 13:00
Oh, there you are…….
The G-Cloud revolution - CloudStore officially open for business!
Posted by Stuart Lauchlan on Sun, 19/02/2012 - 12:33
The doors have been flung open on the public sector Cloud revolution with the release on Sunday morning of the first tranche of providers whose offerings are included in the CloudStore.
In total there are over 1700 services that made it through the G-Cloud framework accreditation process and are now available in a searchable catalogue at www.gov.uk/cloudstore.
Chris Chant, G-Cloud Programme Director, said “The Public Sector will benefit immediately from this framework allowing them to adopt a range of Cloud services at reduced costs and improved agility without compromising performance or security. Costs that were previously averaging between £900 to £1500 per server per month, will be reduced to £150 or lower.”
On first sight, aside from the new breed of SME providers who’ve made it onto the initial ranking, the big winners are Microsoft – the CloudStore itself has been built on Microsoft Azure – and SAP - whose Business Objects and Business ByDesign ERP offering are among its entries onto the catalogue - as well as Google which makes it onto the list which conspicuously doesn’t have a lot of the better known ‘Cloud champions’ from the US.
With the government’s stated policy to include more SME engagement, it’s clearly encouraging to see SMEs such as UK Plc, Unit4 and Huddle are among those making their presence known, while the CloudStore itself has been built by UK SME Solidsoft – a task completed in less than four weeks.
Notably absent are VMware and Salesforce.com, whose government ambitions are well documented, and Oracle, already one of the main providers to the UK public sector market. But while Oracle itself is not there, the inclusion of RightNow Technologies on the list of approved suppliers makes that a very opportune takeover for the US firm.
On the other hand, the ‘revolution’ contains a lot of familiar names. HP – the biggest single provider to the UK public sector - unsurprisingly makes the grade. Being at loggerheads with the government over the National NHS IT Programme hasn’t prevented Fujitsu and CSC getting into the catalogue. IBM, CapGemini and BT are all present as are other ICT and services giants such as EMC, Dell, Steria, Atos and Capita.
The CloudStore – like the rest of the G-Cloud programme – is an evolving beast - and as such there will be additions and further iterations to come. Eleanor Stewart of the G-Cloud Programme Team states: “We are now looking to our users to feedback on what works well or what needs improving so that we can continue to develop the CloudStore. We hope that this site will help us to make the big step change in the way that suppliers and buyers do business on ICT services in the public sector.”
See also http://www.publictechnology.net/sector/central-gov/journey-1000-miles-has-had-its-first-step
Oh, there you are…….GCloud
OK, so this commentary is from me, and isn’t it typical that I just comment on “Where is Alpha Gov, and an example of it’s cohort is launched! So 1700 applications are now online and for download. It is sad that when I discussed this approach with colleagues in ICT at my last employer, there was the usual fear and trepidation about it. I mean, Apple started the ball rolling with the App store, but these days there are many around as examples, but Apple did it with finesse and business sense, and started a revolution.
I hope that G-Cloud takes the success slightly further in looking at why some “online” models work well and others do not. You want security and consistency, reliability and ease of use? Look no further than Apple. You want model that is open to potential abuse - there are loads to go for.
I think I know what you would want….. (although in my old job we’d have to leave experience outside the door and learn from the job!!!). I love that model. It almost always results in learning (it does), eventually…………
Let’s hope for everyones sake that intelligence has presided over this development. Some go ahead Councils etc will be ready for it I’m sure.
The G-Cloud revolution - CloudStore officially open for business!
Posted by Stuart Lauchlan on Sun, 19/02/2012 - 12:33
The doors have been flung open on the public sector Cloud revolution with the release on Sunday morning of the first tranche of providers whose offerings are included in the CloudStore.
In total there are over 1700 services that made it through the G-Cloud framework accreditation process and are now available in a searchable catalogue at www.gov.uk/cloudstore.
Chris Chant, G-Cloud Programme Director, said “The Public Sector will benefit immediately from this framework allowing them to adopt a range of Cloud services at reduced costs and improved agility without compromising performance or security. Costs that were previously averaging between £900 to £1500 per server per month, will be reduced to £150 or lower.”
On first sight, aside from the new breed of SME providers who’ve made it onto the initial ranking, the big winners are Microsoft – the CloudStore itself has been built on Microsoft Azure – and SAP - whose Business Objects and Business ByDesign ERP offering are among its entries onto the catalogue - as well as Google which makes it onto the list which conspicuously doesn’t have a lot of the better known ‘Cloud champions’ from the US.
With the government’s stated policy to include more SME engagement, it’s clearly encouraging to see SMEs such as UK Plc, Unit4 and Huddle are among those making their presence known, while the CloudStore itself has been built by UK SME Solidsoft – a task completed in less than four weeks.
Notably absent are VMware and Salesforce.com, whose government ambitions are well documented, and Oracle, already one of the main providers to the UK public sector market. But while Oracle itself is not there, the inclusion of RightNow Technologies on the list of approved suppliers makes that a very opportune takeover for the US firm.
On the other hand, the ‘revolution’ contains a lot of familiar names. HP – the biggest single provider to the UK public sector - unsurprisingly makes the grade. Being at loggerheads with the government over the National NHS IT Programme hasn’t prevented Fujitsu and CSC getting into the catalogue. IBM, CapGemini and BT are all present as are other ICT and services giants such as EMC, Dell, Steria, Atos and Capita.
The CloudStore – like the rest of the G-Cloud programme – is an evolving beast - and as such there will be additions and further iterations to come. Eleanor Stewart of the G-Cloud Programme Team states: “We are now looking to our users to feedback on what works well or what needs improving so that we can continue to develop the CloudStore. We hope that this site will help us to make the big step change in the way that suppliers and buyers do business on ICT services in the public sector.”
See also http://www.publictechnology.net/sector/central-gov/journey-1000-miles-has-had-its-first-step
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