The only thing hotter and steamier than the weather in D.C. right now is the conversation about cloud. And, it's both tiring and confusing. There are more flavors of cloud than of coffee at Starbucks - private, community, public - not to mention IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. Venti, double-caramel macchiato, skim-milk latte @ 190°...
Isn't it time we cut the steam and put some hard numbers into the recipe? The analysts are cooking up huge growth projections - Gartner says global cloud services will rise from $58.6 billion last year to $148.8 billion in 2014. IDC tells us the public cloud market will soufflé from $16 billion in 2009 to $55.5 billion in 2014.
So, as we sweat over the security, who's making the business case for the Federal cloud transition - how much can Uncle Sam save by putting cloud on the menu? Well, we've got an app for that. MeriTalk collaborated with the Feds - DISA, Commerce, Energy, GSA, Interior's National Business Center, NASA - to build the first Federal Cloud Computing Savings Calculator. More than 100 Feds have run their IT budgets through our gizmo - so we have real numbers on projected government-wide cloud savings. Tune in to the Inside the Cloud Megacast at 2 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 20 to hear from Tom Soderstrom, CTO at NASA JPL, about current cloud initiatives, learn how the calculator works, and see how much you can save.
Oh, and make sure that you're in an air conditioned room - 'cause this stuff is hot. Starbucks optional.
This blog has been re-posted from Steve O’Keeffe and MeriTalk with permission.
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