VMware launching vCloud Government Service for public sector
The public sector is panning out to be the hot spot for the cloud industry this year as more U.S. government agencies warm up to the idea of much-needed upgrades for legacy systems.
VMware is honing its own portfolio with the introduction of its new vCloud Government Service as the virtualization giant aims to secure FedRAMP certification for the platform.
Powered in partnership with managed cloud host Carpathia, which already retains customers in the federal government, the hybrid cloud service is based upon an identical architecture to the vCloud Hybrid Service for enterprise clients.
Angelos Kottas, director of product marketing for the hybrid cloud business unit at VMware, explained further in a blog post on Tuesday morning as to why the security tied to a FedRAMP certification is a priority:
What is FedRAMP and why is it important? FedRAMP, which stands for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, is a standardized approach to cloud security assessments, authorization and monitoring that is designed to save the government money, time and staff by eliminating redundant agency security assessments. Through FedRAMP’s leveraged security authorizations, federal agencies can also drastically reduce the time it takes to adopt new IT capabilities.
VMware's vCloud Government Service is scheduled to become generally available in during the second half of 2014.
VMware's public sector cloud news follows reports earlier on Tuesday about a similar offering being tested by Microsoft.
The Redmond, Wash.-headquartered corporation has commenced private testing of its Windows Azure Government Cloud, the Azure variant specifically for U.S. government customers.
Plans for that version, codenamed Fairfax, was first unveiled last October.
IBM and Amazon Web Services, among others, have been at the forefront of providing cloud services for government agencies. But we can only expect this area to become more competitive as the year goes on.
An IDC report last summer projected that U.S. federal private cloud spending would surpass $1.7 billion this year alone.