Critical Public Sector Cloud Challenges Addressed With Managed Services

This blog post was written in partnership with Amazon Web Services.

Cloud computing can fundamentally change the way government delivers its mission. Understanding the capabilities of the cloud is a good start, but the hard work begins when agencies have to figure out how to harness public cloud. That’s where things can get complicated.

“Federal agencies are under pressure to modernize their IT infrastructures and create strategies to promote acceleration of public cloud adoption,” said Adelaide O’Brien, research director, IDC Government Insights. Canada is looking to simplify and maximize the potential of the cloud to help the public sector meet its mission.

As part of Canada’s Cloud First policy, in 2011 the majority of Canadian public sector IT infrastructure was consolidated under the management of a single organization: Shared Services Canada (SSC). And SSC recently announced the awarding of multiple contracts to six partners of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network for access to AWS cloud services.

The AWS Partner Network (APN) is a global partner program that focuses on helping organizations build a successful AWS-based business by providing business, technical, marketing, and go-to-market support.

Of these SSC authorized partners is Unisys, an AWS Authorized Government Reseller, Managed Service Provider, and AWS Public Sector Partner in Government.

Unisys is a global information technology company that builds high-performance, security-centric solutions for demanding businesses and governments. Unisys offerings include security software and services; digital transformation and workplace services; industry applications and services; and innovative software operating environments for high-intensity enterprise computing.

Unisys CloudForte™ for AWS is a comprehensive and customizable managed services offering that securely addresses the most critical cloud adoption challenges public sector agencies are facing. CloudForte enables the management and governance of the AWS public cloud environment, the acceleration and adoption of AWS cloud services, and cloud-native modernization and development.

“Federal CIOs are being asked to become the catalysts to enable digital government by breaking free from legacy systems and applications and adopting the cloud as their principal innovation platform,” said Peter O’Donoghue, Vice President, Application Services, Unisys Federal. “CloudForte helps federal agencies flexibly and rapidly deliver their mission objectives with the confidence that cloud resources are being consumed securely, cost-effectively and resiliently.”

CloudForte leverages Unisys’ expertise in helping federal government agencies move to the cloud by providing accelerators to securely expedite AWS adoption and automation to manage IT and cyber operations. CloudForte managed services are subscription-based, so users can seamlessly access the full potential of AWS across any scale and to optimize resources, facilitate day-to-day cloud operations, manage across hybrid infrastructures and drive down costs. Based on its analysis of CloudForte capabilities, AWS recently recognized Unisys as a Managed Service Provider (MSP) Partner offering managed and professional services and skilled at cloud infrastructure and application migration.

“With CloudForte, Unisys has created a holistic offering to make it easier for [federal agencies] to move to AWS and maximize the value they obtain,” said O’Brien.

To read more about how Canada is continuing to expand its cloud strategy with AWS partners such as Unisys, head here.