UK Government five-year IT plan points to cloud, Web 2.0

A leaked version of the (draft strategy paper) UK Government ICT Strategy: New world, new challenges, new opportunities (attacked as “unambitious” by the Tories) outlines how the government is thinking about harnessing IT up to 2015. Three technologies are of particular interest.

Web 2.0 will provide the basis to improve public sector interaction with citizens and businesses; cloud technology will enable the development of different business models for the procurement, use and reuse of applications; and service-oriented architecture (SOA) can enable the delivery of the 'G Cloud' and an online store of government applications.

The paper also outlines plans to develop 10 to 12 highly resilient strategic data-centres for the public sector and to develop a common desktop strategy. This will involve delivering 80 percent of central government desktops through a shared utility service by 2015.

The Cabinet Office hopes to publish the finished version before Christmas while a prototype of the G Cloud infrastructure is scheduled for delivery early in 2010.

Click here to read the BBC News article.

Click here to read the ZDNet article.

Click here to read the Tony Collins's IT Projects Blog at Computer Weekly.