Don't Look Down: The Path to Cloud Computing is Still Missing a Few Steps

This article narrates how government agencies are seeking to navigateissues of interoperability, data migrations, security, and standards inthe context of Cloud Computing. The government defines cloud computingas an on-demand model for network access, allowing users to tap into ashared pool of configurable computing resources, such as applications,networks, servers, storage and services, that can be rapidly provisionedand released with minimal management effort or service-provider interaction.
Momentum for cloud computing has been building during the past year,after the new [U.S.] administration trumpeted the approach as a way toderive greater efficiency and cost savings from information technologyinvestments. But the journey to cloud computing infrastructures willtake a few more years to unfold, federal CIOs and industry experts say.Issues of data portability among different cloud services, migration ofexisting data, security and the definition of standards for all of thoseareas are the missing rungs on the ladder to the clouds.
The Federal Cloud Computing Security Working Group, an interagencyinitiative, is working to develop the Government-Wide AuthorizationProgram (GAP), which will establish a standard set of security controlsand a common certification and accreditation program that will validatecloud computing providers...Cloud vendors need to implement multipleagency policies, which can translate into duplicative risk managementprocesses and lead to inconsistent application of federal securityrequirements.
At the user level, there are challenges associated with access controland identity management,according to Doug Bourgeois, director of theInterior Department's National Business Center.. Organizations mustextend their existing identity, access management, audit and monitoringstrategies into the cloud. However, the problem is that existingenterprise systems might not easily integrate with the cloud... An agencycannot transfer data from a public cloud provider, such as Amazon orGoogle, and put it in an infrastructure-as-a-service platform that aprivate cloud provider develops for the agency and then exchange thatdata with another type of cloud provider; that type of data transfer isdifficult because there are no overarching standards for operating in ahybrid environment...
http://gcn.com/articles/2010/03/15/cloud-computing-missing-steps.aspx