Cost Considerations in Cloud Computing
Abstract
Increasing costs for government technology acquisition programs, coupled with decreasing budgets, have the acquisition community looking to exploit new trends in data storage and processing. The Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Information Officer (CIO) describes that organization s current information technology (IT) state as one that is duplicative, costly, and complex, a decades-long result of Components developing their own IT architectures to meet their individual needs.1 One option is to consider shifting enterprise services to cloud-based computing.2 Cloud computing offers the potential to reduce duplication and cost, especially in government data centers. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued guidance to reduce the number of data centers in all parts of the U.S. government.3 As part of this effort, the U.S. CIO established a cloud computing strategy for the federal agencies to follow.4 These agencies, including DoD, could save money on hardware, software, and the maintenance needed to keep pace with the technology refresh cycles in the commercial sector by sharing cloud computing resources.5 Cloud computing has garnered the attention of virtually all parts of the federal government as data and computer processing needs grow and budgets shrink. Despite this interest, insufficient guidance exists regarding how to estimate the costs and potential cost savings related to cloud information storage and processing. Such estimates are needed to identify, prioritize, and justify cloud resource needs, including for such DoD programs as Distributed Common Ground System Navy (DCGS-N), Military Tactical Command and Control (MTC2), Distributed Common Ground System Army (DCGS-A), and others.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA610625
Entities
People
- Daniel L Gonzales
- Ian P. Cook
- Isaac R. Porche Iii
- Kathryn Connor
Organizations
- RAND Corporation