When Using the Cloud Makes Sense
Posted on Thu, Sep 30, 2010 @ 10:17 AM
The title of today’s discussion comes directly from a new GSA web page posted to help federal employees understand when they should consider using cloud services to meet their IT needs. It’s a helpful page, full of examples and case studies from applications outside the physical security arena. We thought it would be interesting to see how some of these concepts translate to our domain—particularly physical access control systems (PACS) and hosted video surveillance.
In the table below, we are taking a handful of the GSA’s subject headings straight from their own chart, and then explaining how each line item applies to physical security systems.
|
GSA Benefit Scenarios
|
Application to Physical Security
|
|
Provision on-demand IT infrastructure for new projects
|
Because cloud-based PACS systems are pre-provisioned for large numbers of buildings and users, they are effectively on-demand services from the point of view of the user. This means that if you need it today, you get it today.
|
|
Rationalize existing IT infrastructure
|
The physical security computing infrastructure of the past mimics much of the federal IT landscape in its redundancy, complexity, and space and energy consumption, with thousands of similar systems installed at each federal property. The economies of scale inherent in SaaS PACS applications shared across wide geographies are a big step toward data center consolidation and reduced energy consumption.
|
|
Rapidly provision IT services
|
Adding PACS to a facility typically means putting more on-premise IT infrastructure in place, but not with cloud implementations. Individual facilities no longer require their own dedicated IT infrastructure for PACS services, relying instead on a common cloud platform.
|
|
Add to an existing service order
|
Adding more security and surveillance services used to mean a whole procurement cycle for additional licensing and more computing hardware. In the cloud, new access control and video services are just added to existing hosted accounts with no new IT investment.
|
|
Rapid collaboration within the government
|
Because collaboration often means visiting other agencies, efficient visitor management is an important part of the overall federal workflow. Cloud based PACS systems facilitate this by providing wider access to browser-based visitor management tools within and across agency boundaries.
|
|
Provide cross-agency Line of Business solutions
|
Physical security infrastructure and applications can be shared across agencies as a Line of Business solution when those services are provide in a cloud setting with the proper controls over Personally Identifiable Information. This is especially important as agencies work toward full HSPD 12 compliance and improved identity management.
|
This list is just a sampling, and leaves many other benefits still to be explored. If you’d like to see the full set of GSA scenarios, you can find them here: http://info.apps.gov/content/when-using-cloud-makes-sense.
The cloud. It just makes sense.
- Steve Van Till