MS beats Google to cloud deal

Microsoft won a contract to provide Web-based e-mail and other services to the US Department of Agriculture, making headway in efforts to gain share in the growing market for cloud computing, reveals Bloomberg.

The federal agency will move 120 000 users to the company's Internet-based e-mail and conferencing software, says Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft. The company says it beat out Google and IBM for the deal and the department confirmed it looked at all of the available competing options.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Google is crying foul that it didn't get the chance to formally compete for the largest federal government cloud computing deal yet struck.

Enterprises are beginning to look at cloud computing as a viable business platform, but concerns about network performance remain a key issue, according to industry watchers, says ZDNet.

Asked if cloud has moved beyond the 'vaporware' stage and evolved as a sustainable business model, Arun Chandrasekaran, research manager at Frost & Sullivan, cited findings from an end-user study that the research firm recently conducted in the region, where 23% of respondents in mid-market companies and large enterprises are using some form of cloud computing.

"Based on the current usage levels, I would say cloud has clearly emerged beyond the hype phase. However, customer concerns about security, privacy, reliability of cloud [infrastructures] and the quality of service level agreements (SLAs) still persist [in the region]," Chandrasekaran said.

Research released recently by clean-tech market intelligence company Pike Research has found that the rise of cloud computing could have a positive environmental impact and help reduce the IT industry's massive carbon footprint, states The Independent.

The IT industry's carbon footprint is estimated to account for 2% of the world's total carbon emissions.

Pike points out that while cloud computing has expanded quickly, it has most often been seen as a compelling alternative to traditional data centres, while the energy saving benefits had not been seriously considered. However, based on its latest data, Pike Research calculates that the adoption of cloud computing could lead to a 38% reduction in energy usage in the world's data centres by 2020.