Government promises G-Cloud so public sector can share applications

The Government has announced that it plans to create the ‘G-Cloud’ – a cloud of software applications for the public sector to use. The aim is to save £3 billion a year so that central government, local government and other public sector bodies can share software applications, remove duplication of costs, enable faster and better public services and simplify and standardise ICT in the public sector. The objectives also include having better interoperability and data sharing to deliver improved public services. In addition, public sector bodies could switch suppliers a lot easier and cheaper so that they would be better able to respond flexibly to the needs of users. The G-Cloud would involve making the applications available across a single public sector telecoms network, for public bodies to choose and host. The G-Cloud is due to go live from 2013.