NIST Releases Draft Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap for Comments

For Immediate Release: November 1, 2011
Contact: Evelyn Brown
301-975-5661

The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released for public comment a draft "roadmap" that is designed to foster federal agencies' adoption of cloud computing, support the private sector, improve the information available to decision makers and facilitate the continued development of the cloud computing model.

U.S. Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel addresses the Cloud Computing Forum & Workshop IV where NIST’s new cloud computing technology roadmap was debuted today. NIST is accepting public comments on the roadmap through Dec. 2. Credit: G. Porter/NIST View hi-resolution image

In February 2011, the government issued the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy* that describes cloud computing as a "profound economic and technical shift (with) great potential to reduce the cost of Federal Information Technology (IT) systems while … improving IT capabilities and stimulating innovation in IT solutions."
As part of that strategy, NIST has been assigned "a central [role] in defining and advancing standards, and collaborating with U.S. government agency CIOs, private-sector experts and international bodies to identify and reach consensus on cloud computing technology and standardization priorities." U.S. Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, Release 1.0 (NIST Special Publication 500-293) is designed to support the secure and effective adoption of the cloud computing model by federal agencies to reduce costs and improve services. The public comment period is open through Dec. 2.
The draft publication defines high-priority requirements for standards, official guidance and technology developments that need to be met in order for agencies to accelerate their migration of existing IT systems to the cloud computing model. "A key contribution of the roadmap effort is to focus the discussion to achieve a clear understanding between the government and private sector," said Senior Advisor for Cloud Computing Dawn Leaf, "particularly on the specific technical steps (standards, guidance and technology solutions) needed to move federal IT from its current early-cloud state to a cloud-based foundation, as envisioned in the U.S. Federal Cloud Computing Strategy."
NIST plans to issue the final U.S. Government Cloud Computing Roadmap as a three-volume work. The first two volumes are being released today.
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