Of course that California is the first state to adopt cloud computing for its public institutions. With so many tech-companies around, it’s a wonder the announcement has not been launched sooner. California teams with IBM to push all its citizens’ data into the cloud for easier inter-institutional access. Ron Hughes, head of the state’s Department of Technology, says that IBM and California have been discussing for over 18 months to put the system dubbed CalCloud in place. California introduces CalCloud system after the White House drew the Cloud First policy three years ago with efficiency and cost-cutting in mind.

In the past it could take months and complex budget proposals to request new IT services, but now we’ll be able to respond in hours to shifts in demand,” Hughes declares. “Having all the data in the cloud and easily accessible by all our departments will make us more efficient.”

IBM is one of the most prolific cloud computing players so far. The company improved SoftLayer recently with new useful features, such as cloud interoperability.

California introduces CalCloud system to cut costs and foster innovation

The system operates since July 10. IBM signed a five year contract to manage the data center for California. IBM will also provide training for the public administration personnel. The contract with IBM will cost California $400 million. For the state agencies already operating with virtual environments, the transition will be smoother, whereas for services running on mainframes, the move may not happen. Overall, more than 400 state and local government agencies might end up using CalCloud.

In the press release, said Erich Clementi, Senior Vice President, IBM Global Technology Services, said that “Transforming how the State of California delivers technology services is not only more efficient and cost effective, it will spur innovation with cloud capabilities that are open and secure.”

We have to agree with Clementi that “California is setting an example for other states on how to use cloud technology to improve coordination across agencies and municipalities while reducing the barriers and duplication that can impede the delivery of government services.”

AT&T is also part of the deal by providing edge networking know-how along with security systems. Moreover, KPMG will analyze the financial aspects of the project. California introduces CalCloud system and more than one OS will work with the cloud platform, including Windows, Linux and AIX of IMB.