Barack Obama and Cloud Computing

Let me take this opportunity to offer my congratulations to President Elect, Mr. Barack Obama. I will also take this opportunity to address what his election means to Cloud Computing. Well, he is not planning to campaign for Cloud Computing. He is also not planning to use social networking technologies to convert people to use Cloud Computing. But, his technology blueprint, if implemented as promised, bodes well for the future of Cloud Computing. Let me explain why.

Let me consider some of the Barack Obama’s Technology proposals and explain how it is relevant to the success of Cloud Computing. His proposals include

• Protecting the openness of Internet: In other words, supporting net neutrality. This is crucial for innovation in the field of Cloud Computing and it is also very important for ensuring vendor diversity. In the absence of net neutrality, big vendors can easily crush smaller players and establish monopoly in the Cloud Computing marketplace including the SaaS marketplace.
• Safeguarding our right to Privacy: One of the biggest concerns for consumers and businesses when it comes to Cloud Computing is the issue of Privacy. They are worried that their data will not be safe in the hands of Cloud vendors, government might use the subpoena power to confiscate user’s data, etc.. By safeguarding our right to Privacy, Barack Obama’s administration can help remove this concern in the minds of users regarding putting their data on the Clouds. Stronger regulations to protect the privacy of users data will help develop the trust we need in the Cloud Computing marketplace.
• Opening up government to its citizens and bringing the government to 21st century: In other words, this can also be construed as moving the government to the Clouds. By moving important public government data to the Cloud, it is possible to provide a more transparent form of government. This also helps in promoting a much wider adoption of Cloud Computing. If government can trust the Cloud and put sensitive data on it, why not consumers, small businesses and enterprises?
• Deploy next generation broadband and extend it to every single American including those who live in rural areas: One of the important requirement for the success of Cloud Computing is the ubiquitous availability of broadband. If broadband is available everywhere in the country and if the providers are encouraged to offer much higher speeds with superior technologies, it is very easy for users to put their data in the Cloud and use the SaaS apps from any part of the country. This will greatly enhance the adoption of Cloud Computing.
• Broad adoption of standards based health record systems: This is nothing but a healthcare SaaS system. Companies like Google and Microsoft are already pushing such apps to the users. If the insurance companies and healthcare providers come on board and help put patients data on the Cloud, the way we do healthcare will change forever. It will help us get better healthcare as our data will always be accessible from anywhere in the country at anytime.
• Climate friendly energy development and deployment: This will help drive the datacenter costs down. A cheaper and climate friendly energy implies lower cost of deployment of cloud computing infrastructure. A lower cost of infrastructure means a much higher savings for the customers of Cloud Computing technologies. This also means a wider adoption of Cloud Computing in this country.

The technology policies promised by Barack Obama bodes well for the future of Cloud Computing. It will help in a wider adoption of Cloud Computing technologies by users. As it is the case with any politician, we have to wait and see how effectively these policies are implemented.

PS: This is not a political post but rather an analysis of President Elect Barack Obama’s policies and how it might help Cloud Computing. Please feel free to discuss the policies instead of politics in the comments.