NIST released the draft “U.S Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap” in two volumes that describes the agency’s strategy in terms of both strategic and tactical objectives. The first volume “High Priority Requirements to Further USG Cloud Computing Adoption” summarizes strategic requirements that must be met for federal agencies to further adopt cloud computing.
However, Volume II, “Useful Information for Cloud Adopters”, is the nuts and bolts publication. It is valuable to use as a technical reference to help those working on strategic and tactical cloud computing initiatives and is applicable even if you don’t work in government agencies. Volume II integrates and summarizes the work completed to date, explains the assessment findings based on this work, and describes how these findings support Volume I.
Also, Volume II specifically:
• Presents USG target business use cases and technical use cases pertaining to the cloud
• Identifies existing interoperability, portability, and security standards applicable to the cloud computing model and specifies high priority gaps for which new or revised standards, guidance, and technology needs to be developed
• Discusses security challenges in the context of cloud computing adoption, high priority security requirements, and current and future risk mitigation measures requirements
The third volume, “Technical Considerations for USG Cloud Computing Deployment Decisions” is under development as part of an interagency and public working group collaborative effort. It is intended to be used as a guide for decision makers who are planning and implementing cloud computing solutions.
Volumes I and II can be viewed at www.nist.gov/itl/cloud/index.cfm. Comments on the first two volumes are due December 2, 2011 and should be emailed to ccroadmap.comments@nist.gov.
