Australian Government Hopes to Drive Adoption of Cloud-Based Services

In an effort to drive adoption of cloud-based services, the Australian government is seeking cloud computing providers to join its technology marketplace that will be run out of its two consolidated data centers, which are expected to open this year.

The online marketplace is being promoted as an opportunity for the technology industry to offer government the three main types of cloud computing services: infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS).

The initiative is part of the government’s larger plan to encourage innovation through examining and adopting new and emerging technologies more rapidly, which includes consolidation the state’s 130 agency data centers and server rooms into two new purpose-built facilities.

The 2012-2015 ICT Strategy outlines how Australian government agencies will continue to use ICT to drive better service delivery, improve government operations, drive productivity, and to engage with people, the community and business.

The ICT Strategy document noted that agencies approach the management of their IT infrastructure differently, from doing it all internally to using external service providers.

“These arrangements result in variable ICT service quality, increased costs and a diminished ability to capitalize on emerging trends such as cloud computing,” the strategy document said. “Improving service quality, particularly availability and reliability, will become increasingly important as government delivers more services through electronic means and becomes more dependent on ICT.”

In April 2011, the government released its “Cloud Computing Strategic Direction whitepaper: Opportunities and Applicability for Use by the Australian Government,” which describes the government’s policy position on cloud computing.

The NSW marketplace also follows the efforts of the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), which set up a panel of data center and cloud services providers last year and now has over 900 offerings for federal agencies to use.

In 2012, the Australian cloud computing market was worth $882.4 million and is expected to reach $3.33 billion in 2016, according to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. In fact, 43 percent of Australian businesses have already adopted cloud computing – the highest rate in the Asia Pacific region.