USA’s Government Printing Office Transitions to Cloud
It’s no secret that the USA’s Cloud First initiative is redefining the way that government agencies roll out information technology. Since 2010, the government has looked at cloud solutions first before building out unneeded bare metal infrastructure. The Cloud First initiative of the US government has finally been adopted by the first legislative branch agency, the U.S. Government Printing Office.
The U.S. Government Printing Office is the agency that produces all of the printed documents for legislators. Chuck Riddle, the CIO for the Government Printing Office mentioned, “Moving the agency’s email services to the cloud will simplify our IT infrastructure enabling us to use those resources more effectively.” Riddle also talked to Roll Call in a telephone interview and he was quoted as saying, “Everything we do we obviously approach it from a security mindset first and foremost.”
Just like every other cloud service used within the US Government, the Government Printing Office’s cloud endeavors were certified by FEDRAMP therefore giving the GPO the green light to continue on with the cloud services that it desired. In fact, the GPO mentions that cloud based email will be available in January 2015. Riddle also commented on the GPO’s new FEDRAMP approved cloud saying, “It’s completely locked down.”
There is a difference between a legislative agency and an executive agency. It was recently reported extensively on the US government’s cloud transition including the Department of Defenses recent cloud endeavors. Executive agencies have been some of the first government agencies to adopt the cloud. The GPO, which is a legislative agency that supports congress, is the first legislative agency to migrate its operations into the cloud. It is important to highlight these cloud migrations because the GPO’s cloud migration will likely mirror the migration of other legislative agencies, once they are granted the proper approvals and what not to begin cloud service integration.
