Searching for insight

Ian Osborne isn't alone in having his mind on the G Cloud, but his thoughts have a more direct influence than most. As the lead for scalable computing in the recently formed Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Network (DS KTN), he is effectively leading the IT industry's contribution to the Cabinet Office's work on the plan for an environment of virtualised services developed especially for the public sector. He says the cloud is highly important to anyone doing business with computers today, and that the DS KTN is trying to help government "demystify" the complexities around it. "It's all about insight, and it all has a lot of relevance for government," he says. "I expect us to be able to work with government in various ways to help make visible these contributions, help support them in their changes, and eventually write about them so other parts of government can take note and follow suit." KTN connection KTNs have been in existence for about five years, working with the support of the Technology Strategy Board, the business led, executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, that promotes research into technology. This involves connecting academia with industry and bringing together organisations that can take research into dealing with pressing issues. "We see ourselves as building the systems that support the business of an organisation, and as being able to articulate the way new technologies can be adopted and used within any business," Osborne says, adding that there are plenty of ways in which it can be relevant to government. "If we can provide support for the G Cloud initiative going back to local government, that's a good initiative. If we can work with regional development agencies and help them put in an e-commerce platform that's relevant to their local community, that's a good opportunity. "It is technology driven in some respects, but we're not so daft as to push only the technology; we're looking for good business opportunities that fit." The Digital Systems network was set up last October under the management of the IT industry association Intellect, with a brief to look at issues such as cloud computing, intelligent transport, smarter metering and mobile access data. Osborne says that, while the others are not being ignored, the central role of the cloud in the government's IT strategy has made it the dominant issue. "In the cloud arena there's a great deal of interest in how public cloud offerings like Google's can be adopted in government," he says. "It's things like what the challenges are in terms of information security and how they are managed. Or could you really use Google Docs and a public cloud to do government work? That's at the cutting edge of discussion in the G Cloud project." He says the model offers some clear opportunities that government cannot afford to ignore. "The energy efficiency of cloud computing is very high, whereas for most of what we run in our data centres it is not very high, so there's an opportunity there. "Secondly, the scalability offers an opportunity. Software as a service gives you all sorts of benefits: for example, you don't have to do software updates. A large amount of an IT director's life is making sure all the computers in the establishment are up to date. I think that will seem rather old fashioned in five years' time." This is set to influence much of the DS KTN's work in setting up forums and harnessing the contribution of scientists, who tend to account for about a third of most networks. The main thrust is to identify the advantages and problems in small scale applications and predict how these will develop when applied to the massive scale demanded by government. Osborne says the IT industry has already shown a big commitment, citing the presence of over 100 volunteers working with the Cabinet Office. One of the main priorities is to deal with the information assurance issues, although he says it is possible to over-emphasise the question of leaving sensitive data with a cloud provider. Biggest risks "It's very interesting to ask which of these two is the biggest risk: you carrying a laptop around, maybe when you're having a drink in a bar, or the data being stored somewhere else? "I've got all my email in the cloud and I find it reassuring because it means I can't lose it. "One of the biggest challenges in the G Cloud project is to square away information assurance requirements. We've come to a conclusion about what level of data can be stored in the cloud, and it won't come as a surprise that there is a level at which we couldn't contemplate storing data other than under very controlled circumstances." He points out that there are cloud operations with a very high level of security, pointing to software as a service provider Salesforce.com satisfying the requirements of the banks, and says some cloud vendors probably have more secure arrangements than many organisations have internally. Closely related to this is the work on the Government Applications Store. Osborne says this could provide great benefits for the public sector, not least in saving organisations the cost and effort of installing new IT programmes in hundreds or thousands of computers. It requires an easy to use interface through which a service can be accessed, and a recognition that the full value will come from being ambitious with the applications on offer. "What we see in an application store generically is a list of services that might say 'Pick an email client', but is more likely to say 'Create a new event plan'. It will pop up information you can populate, automatically back it up for you, and automatically route it to other business process holders, like the person who holds the budget or schedules the rooms and so on. "An application store is more than a portal, it's a way of doing more knowledge work. Application stores are going to evolve that way, and it will be the way you access cloud like infrastructures. You won't see cloud, you'll see services, and they will run on the cloud." The Cabinet Office's wish to get as many applications as possible run under a Crown licence – by which they would be bought once then free for use by public bodies – does raise the question about whether it would be in the industry's interest. Given he currently has a foot in both camps, it is not surprising that Osborne is diplomatic in his answer. "Any well run business is going to try to make sure it gets the best price from the services it produces, and the bigger the business the harder that is to do, because every part of the business has its own budget and makes its own decisions. So the challenge is getting everyone to take advantage of contracts that have been negotiated in one part and getting better value for money. "As a citizen I'd like to think the government is going to get the best value for money it can from its suppliers. I think it's a legitimate and laudable goal, but practically speaking it's always a challenge to actually do it, particularly in organisations where you may have 50,000 people in one place and 1.2m in another. These are big challenges. "Government also has a responsibility to show it is using public money responsibly, so there are obligations that every department head has to respect. It's a complicated situation, but it's the right sort of intent." He insists, however, that it is in industry's interests to get fully involved with the store and the broader G Cloud plan. "I think it's the future model of computing. We have to learn things about computers we shouldn't ever have needed to have known, so if we can make the knowledge worker more productive by giving them access at their fingertips without having that knowledge, that's terrific. "If we can give them choices so they can pick the best solutions that's terrific." Catching up As for other areas in which the DS KTN is working with government, Osborne says it has some catching up to do in data centre consolidation, learning lessons from major corporations that have already developed more efficient structures. He also expects a move towards the wider use of notebook rather than full function computers, utilising virtualised applications and storage. The network is also continuing to work with government on information security, and with the Department for Transport on location and timing, developing more sophisticated ways of managing traffic flows. The prospects of all this developing into widely used solutions are subject to other factors. Osborne says he does not expect government to be eager to spend more on computing in the face of a public spending squeeze, but that as organisations see some of the benefits they will make money available. "Of course, each of the government departments have their own goals already, and sometimes IT is down the stack. So my guess is that implementing such changes will take an appropriate amount of time, once people have the confidence they are going to work and work more broadly. "There will be investment as IT represents one of the most effective and efficient ways of delivering services."