FOSE Survey Indicates Cloud Computing and Virtualization Top Initiatives

May 6th, 2010 by Larissa Fair, Online Marketing Manager

The votes are in and the results have been counted. Our fourth annual survey at this year’s FOSE reveals that federal IT workers are gearing up for building cloud computing solutions. We had lots of great feedback from participants this year, including a visit from (self-proclaimed) Vivek Kundra’s biggest fan. He went on and on about how Vivek was not only a forward focused technology guru, but also in general a very cool guy. We definitely can’t argue  with that, since Vivek has made the federal government take a look under the hood and determine more efficient solutions for its IT operations.

We can’t talk about IT this year without mentioning cloud computing. The government is not immune to the hype; and a private, public, or hybrid government cloud may not be a far off fantasy for some agencies, considering that 58% listed cloud computing as important. In fact, cloud computing comes in as one of the top initiatives for agencies this year, with 30% considering either a private (17%) or public cloud (13%) solution. This is right behind data center consolidation (50%), virtualization (52%) and IT modernization (56%).

Data center consolidation will definitely make an impact this year, with 66% of respondents reporting some kind of impact (31% minor and 33% major) on their IT operations due to the federal data center consolidation mandate from Vivek Kundra and the OMB.

We were interested to see that green IT saw a slight bump this year, with 67% listing it as important or very important. This makes sense though, because with the move to virtualization and cloud computing, agencies are already using technologies that will leave a greener footprint for their data centers.

It’s worth noting that adoption takes time. This isn’t necessarily a new idea, but the proof is in the numbers. Take a look at cloud computing. While cloud computing has generally been accepted as important by the federal government, there is a wide disparity in numbers of planned implementations vs. actual tools in place. One in three  have plans to implement cloud computing, but only 7% actually have the tools in place.

Put this against virtualization, which was the IT media darling not even two years ago. Although we see more planned installations of virtualization management tools scheduled this year (38% compared to 23% in 2009), there was only an small increase in actual tools in place (32% vs. 29% in 2009). We are willing to bet that cloud computing will come up fast against virtualization, and the numbers will begin to mirror each other in the next 12-18 months. Both virtualization and cloud computing saw a dramatic increase in planned tools from 2009 to 2010, with a 15% jump for virtualization management and a whopping 20% jump for the cloud.

While many may know what cloud computing and virtualization management can do for their organizations, it appears that 1/3 don’t know what ITIL is, or how it can help their IT operations. We have seen steady numbers from the past two years of folks not knowing the importance of ITIL or of any plans to implement. (In 2010 and 2009, 26% don’t know importance, 33% in 2010 and 32% in 2009 don’t know of plans to implement.)

Budgets are always a touchy subject for many government agencies, and this year we saw a dramatic decrease in the number of “wait and see” responses when asked about the effect the economic crisis has had (or will have) on IT budgets. In 2009, agencies were wary and reported 31% unsure of what was going to happen. This year only 5% seemed to be experiencing that limbo feeling. That’s not to say that things have been easy. 56% reported  projects stalled in 2010. In 2009, 30% reported some cost cutting, but in 2010 13% reported actually spending more. It seems the agencies that have more at stake  (DHS) for example are willing and able to go the extra mile and spend more for their causes.

The government often has to work harder than private corporations to create change in their agencies. But, this year it seems that with a little help from the Office of Management and Budget, many federal IT workers are being forced to learn and adapt to somewhat disruptive technologies (cloud computing), in order to make a change for the better. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and hopefully the government can serve as an example of the right way to approach IT management. One survey participant from DISA did note that our survey was “great” and “very thorough and well thought out”. We hope that others can continue to review the trends over the years and see first hand the positive changes the government is making.

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