An Introduction to Cloud Computing
About
The Department of Finance (Finance), through the
Australian Government Information Management
Office (AGIMO), has consulted with government
agencies, industry and the public to develop an
Australian Government Cloud Computing Strategic
Direction paper to explore the opportunities and
impacts of Cloud Computing. The paper was issued
in April 2011.
In addition the Defence Signals Directorate released a
guide to agencies on Cloud Computing Security
Considerations in April 2011 and the National Archives
of Australia released advice on Records Management
and the Cloud in November 2011.
What Cloud Computing Services is Finance
using?
AGIMO has moved a number of its public-facing
websites (e.g. www.data.gov.au and
www.govspace.gov.au) to private cloud, with
www.data.gov.au data sets hosted in a public cloud.
Is Cloud Computing value for money?
The primary rule for all government procurement is
value for money. Each ICT procurement decision
needs to be examined on its own merits under existing
procurement and information security policies and
must be consistent with the Commonwealth
Procurement Rules.
Government agencies need to consider a range of
risks when making procurement decisions that
potentially impact on information security, including
protecting people’s privacy.
The Government is entrusted with citizen information
and must ensure that this information is only used for
the purposes for which it was provided, and that the
privacy and confidentiality of the information is
protected.
Where can I get more information on the use
of cloud?
Better Practice Guides have been developed to
support the strategy. They include:
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A Guide to Implementing Cloud Services
Privacy and Cloud Computing
Negotiating the Cloud - Legal Issues
Financial Considerations
Community Cloud Governance
What other Agencies are utilising Cloud
Computing?
There are many examples of Commonwealth agencies
using the cloud. For example:

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has
replaced a manual system for tracking the
compliance of ships with Australian safety
standards with a cloud solution.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has
transitioned its infrastructure to a private cloud
capability where they provide services to
internal clients such as self provisioning
environments for developers.

The Department of Education, Employment
and Workplace Relations is using the cloud to
host some of their websites.
How can I procure Cloud Services?
In October 2012, AGIMO launched the Data Centre as
a Service (DCaaS) Multi Use List (MUL) and Service
Catalogue. This work is the next tranche of work in the
Data Centre Strategy, and provides a simplified
procurement process and reduces transaction costs
for agencies.
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Suppliers were selected to provide cloud and cloudlike services to the Australian Government. Services
range from Virtual Desktops and Servers, to Disaster
Recovery and Managed Backups, to Customer
Relationship Management and online collaboration
tools.
The MUL will be updated on a quarterly basis to reflect
changes in the suppliers, services and pricing
available to agencies. The MUL will be available to all
Commonwealth agencies, State and Territory
Government bodies.
More information on the DCaaS MUL and the Data
Centre Strategy can be accessed on the Finance
website.
Has the Australian Government identified any
potential risks involved with Cloud
Computing?
The Australian Government recognises that there are
many potential benefits to be offered by cloud-based
services, such as scalability, flexibility, availability and
cost effectiveness. While cloud-based services share
similarities with other existing service delivery models,
e.g. managed services, they also present some new
complexities and risks.
Where to now?
The Australian Government’s intention is that the work
done to date on the existing strategy, the various
Better Practice Guides, as well as more recent efforts
to further advance the use of Cloud by agencies will
now go to support the development of the National
Cloud Computing Strategy. This is an initiative which
was announced by the Prime Minister on 5 October in
her closing remarks to the Digital Economy Forum.
While the National Cloud Computing Strategy will take
a broad perspective on the potential benefits that
Cloud represents to national economy and businesses,
it also provides the ideal context to consider the use of
Cloud based services by Government and where it
might look to accelerate adoption.
Other useful links
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AGIMO Blog
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APS Information and Communications
Technology Strategy 2012-2015
As cloud computing is a new ICT sourcing and delivery
model, NOT a new technology, many of the risks and
issues associated with cloud computing are also not
new. However, as many agency systems are required
to operate in a secure environment, agencies need to
fully understand the risks associated with cloud
computing both from an end-user and agency
perspective and, based on this, adopt principle and
risk-based approaches to their adoption of cloud
computing.
The policy of the Australian Government is that
agencies may choose cloud-based services where
they are fit for purpose, demonstrate value for money,
and provide adequate information security.
The Cloud Computing Strategic Direction Paper
identifies potential risks that should be considered
before adopting cloud computing.
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