GovCloud Cloud Computing Discussion and Book Launch

If you have been working modern IT concepts in the federal space you probably already know of Kevin Jackson, the mission-focused writer of the Cloud Musings blog and Director of Cloud Services at NJVC .

Kevin recently completed a new book, GovCloud: Cloud Computing for the Business of Government. I try to track cloud-related issues myself, but like many others I have trouble keeping up with the many moving parts of this construct. The book provides a helpful framework that puts many elements of government cloud computing into context, so I believe it will help us all decide what elements of this issue to focus in on.

This GovCloud book is immediately helpful. Everyone uses the term Cloud Computing but too many of us use it differently. The book provides common frames of reference that should help us maximize dialog on this important construct. IT professionals know you do not build anything without a plan and this book offers the blueprints and guidelines you need to accelerate cloud constructs.

Kevin and his co-author Don Philpott are gathering several of us together at an event on 29 March 2011 at the National Press Club in Washington DC. This should be a good event- an opportunity for us all to review where we have collectively started from and gotten to on this journey.

From the event announcement:

About this conference

The United States Government is the world’s largest consumer of information technology, spending over $76 billion annually on more than 10,000 different systems. Fragmentation of systems, poor project execution, and the drag of legacy technology in the Federal Government have presented barriers to achieving the productivity and performance gains found when technology is deployed effectively in the private sectors.

All that is about to change as the Obama Administration obliges federal departments to look to Cloud computing to cut costs and solve many of the problems that have plagued IT deployment for decades. The problem, however, is how do federal IT managers and those controlling the budgets go about deciding what is best for them.

Leading experts from Government and Industry will update the press and attendees on …

Status of government Cloud initiatives

Future Plans and Outlook

Challenges and Opportunities

Speakers

Dawn Leaf, NIST Senior Executive for Cloud Computing – Confirmed

Jerry Smith, Office of DoD Executive Agent for IT Standards – Confirmed

Brand Niemann, Director, Semantic Community and former Senior Enterprise Architect and Data Scientist, U.S. EPA. – Confirmed

Kevin Jackson, Director, Cloud Services at NJVC – Confirmed

Bob Gourley, Founder/Author CTO Vision and Former DIA CTO – Confirmed