Thursday 29 July 2010
President Obama has called for slashing federal IT infrastructure costs by relying on cloud computing, a process where agencies pay for Internet access to shared hardware and software that is housed in an off-site data center. One of those sites could be NASA. Officials at the space agency and the Office of Management and Budget have “broached the idea of NASA becoming an IT service provider,” said Mike Hecker, NASA’s associate chief information officer for architecture and infrastructure. But, “NASA as an IT service provider takes us into a new realm. We’re still debating if that’s a good idea or not. NASA is developing a cloud computing model, called Nebula, to support some of its projects. For example, the agency uses Nebula to share NASA images and statistics with international partners and academic institutions. The system provides high-capacity computing, storage and network connectivity.
Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, Obama’s top technology executive, is examining many alternatives for innovation in the cloud, including using Nebula as a centralized platform to service multiple agencies, OMB officials said. Chris Kemp, CIO at NASA’s Ames Research Center, who is spearheading the program, is working with the federal government’s cloud working group. The primary goal of concentrating IT operations is to improve IT security, Hecker said. Collaboration among employees and cost-cutting also are important objectives.
