Lucas Searle told Computer Weekly that Microsoft was working closely with central government on its G-cloud project. This aims to create vast data centres that will allow departments to share applications such as human resources and accounting, but also allow departments to run their unique applications.

Searle said the tightening government IT plus pressure to deliver front line services more efficiently meant that Microsoft’s life-time cost of ownership advantage over VMware should make a compelling argument for cash-strapped public sector CIOs.

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/10/07/243215/Microsoft-aims-to-virtualise-government-IT.htm

Searle saw a “hybrid” cloud market developing in the UK

Andy Tait, the deputy director of the G Cloud initiative, datacentre consolidation and the application-store programme, said that the government will wait for a “natural break” in contracts before replacing them with “G Cloud capable services”.
Speaking at the Socitm 2010 conference in Brighton on Tuesday, Tait said that the government believed it could save 30 percent in this area by using the G Cloud.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2010/10/14/government-will-not-cancel-contracts-to-hasten-g-cloud-40090522/

All contracts over a specified value will be published online and IT projects will be much more modular, with a possible maximum value of £100m for any single contract.

The G-Cloud is shaping up to be a key part of the government’s new IT strategy, with more details on the project emerging ahead of this months’ raft of announcements.
While most are anticipating the government’s planned cuts with trepidation, October will also see some new projects launched that are designed to overhaul the way government IT works, bringing new opportunities as well as reducing costs.
Government CIO John Suffolk’s updated IT strategy is in the process of being finalised and details on the central project, the G-Cloud, are slowly being revealed.
The G-Cloud, according to deputy government CIO Bill McCluggage, is a bad name – he says to think of it as an eBay for government, but “with a twist”.

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/10/15/243372/How-the-G-Cloud-is-developing-ahead-of-the-Spending.htm

The G-Cloud will consist of five “worlds”, with separate areas for testing, hosting, web applications, SMEs and a “shared” world.

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=B3894FB7-1A64-6A71-CEAAA097234C65DB

There is no single model for how best to mix all the various cloud service permutations, but a few consistent models have emerged:

While those who developed the Internet had a clear vision and the power to make choices about the road it would take — factors that helped shape the Web — Georgetown University professor Mike Nelson wondered during a panel discussion whether the current group of developers possesses the foresight to continue growing the Internet.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/200829/cloud_computing_will_surpass_the_internet_in_importance.html

“I think there is a chance that if we push hard … we can get to this universal cloud,

I got ‘ahead of the curve’ once concerning the previous government’s shenanigans when I predicted the imminent creation of an offshore Microsoft Azure powered G-Cloud for UK schools…which was duly dropped* in favour of a vague mixed provider option…which now has been canned altogether…I assume.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=3052&blogid=40

Little known to the general public is her commitment to Linux…Microsoft’s deadliest rival..as long ago as 2004 her CTO proclaimed that Open Source and Linux was the ‘key to the Internet’.

Like other public sector managers, my first thoughts about life under the coalition have focused on the likely areas, depth and impact of budget cuts. For IT we’ve already had announcements that high-profile projects, including the ContactPoint database and ID cards, are to be scrapped. More will follow.
While these moves are not surprising, there are real concerns at Socitm about indiscriminate slashing of IT spending. Making blanket cuts could be a disaster.

http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=14483

You cannot apply IT over the top of outdated and inefficient processes and hope that, as if by magic, technology will change everything.

It is fair to say that phrase has achieved notoriety in taking the shortest time from buzzword-creation to CIO-cynicism.
There is no shortage of opportunities for IT leaders to listen to suppliers telling them why they should be going into the cloud. Cloudwash has replaced greenwash as the focus for marketing brochure hype.

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/editors-blog/2010/07/what-the-cloud-really-means-to.html

More than anything else, what “the cloud” really offers IT leaders is the opportunity to innovate.

Of course that still happens. Sometimes we dress it up in the guise of third-party advisors, so it’s not the client who is harassing the supplier directly, it’s the advisory firm, but things have matured. It’s clear that in most IT deals today there is more of a focus on best practice and a better appreciation of accountability.

http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=8392&ekfrm=6

As the British government tries to cut costs, Mark Kobayashi-Hillary warns that focusing on reducing costs rather than thinking strategically will lead to even greater problems

But this government faces two basic ICT (information and communication technologies) issues that could make or break their entire program, and both depend entirely on the Internet.
Firstly, can the government overcome its own internal ICT challenges, which are formidable, while reducing expenditure, losing headcount, migrating technologies, and reversing under-investment in infrastructure? It’s a task not unlike changing all four wheels on a car while it’s still moving.

http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=920&doc_id=194213&f_src=internetevolution_gnews

While there is a limited penetration of the market by cable service companies, the bulk of Internet connection in the UK is through landlines managed by the de-nationalized telco BT (previously British Telecom). The problem is that much of the existing network is good old-fashioned copper.