Have you ever imagined a government acting like a commercial service provider. That too in the IT arena. Mahagov Cloud is such an offering by the state government of Maharashtra. The Mahagov Cloud offers a scalable Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (Saas) and other miscellaneous services on a clear rate chart.
Security concerns associated with cloud adoption was the limiting factor in government sector. Especially since the government applications are likely to have sensitive data a specialized offering dedicated to governments became the need of the hour. Mahagov Cloud becomes the first mover in the gCloud space and certainly others will follow suit.
Cloud Computing was the buzzword since 2010 and adoption in companies have proved to reduce costs, increase efficiency and over the past two years the security concerns that always dominated the discussion on adoption of cloud computing services have been largely addressed. A cloud offering on clear terms similar to commercial vendors by a government service provider exclusively to government departments fills a critical gap.
The State Data Centres (SDCs) established as part of the National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) created the launchpad for the first gCloud offering in India. The service of data centre in Government has been transformed by making it a Pay-as-You-Go service. Gone are the days when mere automation was considered eGovernance. The emergence of gCloud is likely help the movement for interoperability fuelled by the Open Data Initiative. Reduced costs and reduced barrier to entry is likely to fuel innovation at grassroots.
The Government department operating in silos will feel the need and possibility of collaboration with other departments. eGovernance providers and Social startups are provided with a new opportunity to create a lasting and relevant impact. IT in Government is moving from a expenditure paradigm to impact paradigm.
