The organisation has adopted the technology since 2000 to incorporate government information network and GRP (government resource planning), which currently incorporates 29 government departments having 25 IT models used by 68,000 employees.
The government body does not have immediate plans to get on to the public cloud-computing domain but is also not ruling it out.
Emirates Business met Matar Saeed Al Humairi, Director of Infrastructure Management, Infrastructure Management Department, Dubai eGovernment, to learn more about their cloud-computing initiatives.
Was cloud computing part of the e-government plan from the beginning?
In 2000, the government wanted all departments to undertake initiatives towards creating a paperless environment with the help of e-government solutions. The foundation was, therefore, being laid for e-government projects, which would be reflected in the later years.
Immediately between 2000 and 2001, the government information network was made to have a secure network and communication between government departments. This also facilitated information exchange between government departments.
In a cloud-computing environment, applications are shared. This is either done with the help of a service provider who focuses on shared solutions or from a private business or entity. In the government department, we started with services, especially in networking and applications. The government information network is based on cloud computing. Even e-government services come under this technology, which is a service for Dubai Government.
For instance, in networking and security, negotiations with the service provider are conducted by the Dubai eGovernment. This enables the Dubai Government to get service from their gateways. All the risks and attacks from the internet are protected by Dubai eGovernment.
With the government information network in place, how did you handle the security issues?
The external risk and internet is filtered by Dubai eGovernment. We pass clean bandwidth to the government department taking care of security and also monitor usage of bandwidth.
The other benefit from a government infrastructure network is to provide a channel of communication. If one department needs services from another, they can do it in a secure manner. They don't have to go to the internet but rather use the government information network. They are now able to share information and applications to speed up the e-government process.
Is cloud computing limited to networking and sharing of information?
Message and collaboration system, which is directly related to e-mails, instant messaging, web hosting, dot net applications and other solutions related to collaboration are also included. This leads to a connected government, not limiting ourselves to a network or back office applications.
The message and collaboration services started in 2002 and the technology was updated every three years, keeping in line with new versions and products.
There are 16 departments included in messaging and collaboration services. Additionally, there are 36-plus government and semi-government departments covered in the government infrastructure network.
Another initiative called GRP [government resource planning] is a plan launched in 2003. In the pilot phase, there were just three departments and now the solution hosts 29 government departments. This system handles five major areas - payroll, HR, finance, asset and property management and supply/purchasing chain.
Is GRP completely managed by Dubai eGovernment?
There is both the centralised and de-centralised approach used. Centralisation is done in terms of technology and ownership of data is de-centralised.
The Dubai Government is considered a group sharing one infrastructure having its own privacy and security in one place.
At the same time, flexibility of managing data has to be maintained. Dubai eGovernment maintains the technology, support and availability of the system and hardware upgrade. The GRP systems incorporate 29 government departments having 25 IT models used by 68,000 employees. Again, this is based on cloud computing but completely private and government owned.
Could you throw some light on the centralised and de-centralised approach?
The maintenance of the system is centralised - that is the technical part of the solution - while the de-centralised part focuses on managing users, data entering the system, new services to be added and daily business use of the system, which is done by Dubai eGovernment. Even in the messaging and collaboration system, the messaging solution is hosted for the department by our team. Backup, maintenance, storage management and security are part of our agenda.
For the end-user, the e-government team also does system management - end-user management, adding or removing users and password management, thereby gaining full control on the system. In a centralised approach, the solution is unified, giving us the ability to integrate between systems. In the GRP system, there are 46 integrations incorporated. This means, other government departments such as medical applications and Dubai Municipality maintenance systems are integrated. Whenever there is a core application within a department, we let them manage it as our focus is only on shared applications and solutions.
How much of cost savings has this provided?
Economies of scale were definitely observed, especially in financial and human resources. To cite an example, if an e-mail system had to be implemented for 16 government departments, that means there will be 16 implementations required. Additionally, infrastructure costs, human interface, hardware and qualified resources to manage applications.
If this can be managed by just one implementation, that is a cost saving.
In 2009, did it help adopting cloud-computing services on the network?
It has been an advantage and more departments are joining to adopt these services. Government departments can focus on their core business while Dubai eGovernment can manage the rest. Even for departments, it is optional to take up messaging and collaboration services. However, the government infrastructure network is used for safe communication between departments. This is why 95 per cent of Dubai Government budget is allocated for this system. This also indicates that 95 per cent of the government departments are being covered by the GRP system indicating the relevance of cloud-computing technology.
Would you consider getting services on to a public cloud?
Sharing government information is a risk, which is why private cloud services are considered. Currently, at this stage, we don't see ourselves going in for a public cloud option. The private cloud is presently maintained by our department.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Nancy Sudheer
Quelle/Source: Zawya, 06.06.2010
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