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U.S. accelerating move to cloud computing
GAITHERSBURG, Md., (UPI) -- The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology says it's been asked to help accelerate the federal government's move to cloud computing.
Cloud computing is an Internet-based computing system that provides shared software and information to computers and other devices in an on-demand fashion, like the electricity grid, according to Wikipedia.
U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, who requested NIST assistance, said he views the new technology as a means of lowering the cost of government operations, driving innovation and fundamentally changing the way government delivers technology services across the board.
NIST said it's focused on two major cloud computing efforts -- one of which is a collaborative technical initiative known as the Standards Acceleration to Jumpstart Adoption of Cloud Computing. That program is intended to validate and communicate interim cloud computing specifications before they become formal standards.
Another major challenge with cloud computing is to safeguard government data in clouds, especially citizens' private information. Agencies using cloud computing will still use NIST-developed Federal Information Security Management Act guidelines.
GAITHERSBURG, Md., (UPI) -- The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology says it's been asked to help accelerate the federal government's move to cloud computing.
Cloud computing is an Internet-based computing system that provides shared software and information to computers and other devices in an on-demand fashion, like the electricity grid, according to Wikipedia.
U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, who requested NIST assistance, said he views the new technology as a means of lowering the cost of government operations, driving innovation and fundamentally changing the way government delivers technology services across the board.
NIST said it's focused on two major cloud computing efforts -- one of which is a collaborative technical initiative known as the Standards Acceleration to Jumpstart Adoption of Cloud Computing. That program is intended to validate and communicate interim cloud computing specifications before they become formal standards.
Another major challenge with cloud computing is to safeguard government data in clouds, especially citizens' private information. Agencies using cloud computing will still use NIST-developed Federal Information Security Management Act guidelines.