Successful cloud initiatives require guidelines in order to assist with smooth rollout and implementation. In a ZDNet article, Joe Kendrick explains how the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has completed the final version of guidelines for managing and designing clouds for both the U.S. government and commercial organizations. The following NIST guidelines provide structure to these cloud initiatives.
- Interoperability, performance, portability and security standards
- Solutions for high-priority security requirements
- Technical specifications to enable development of consistent, high-quality Service Level Agreements
- Clearly and consistently categorized cloud services
- Frameworks to support seamless implementation of federated community cloud environments
- Updated organization policy that reflects the cloud computing business and technology model
- Defined unique government regulatory requirements and solutions
- Collaborative parallel strategic “future cloud” development initiatives
- Defined and implemented reliability design goals
- Defined and implemented cloud service metrics
When searching for a cloud provider that best fits the needs of government agencies or an enterprise, decision makers should look for the NIST guidelines being implemented by the provider. Finding a provider with the agility to efficiently onboard services and identify and prioritize threats the business might encounter is key for success.
Read More at ZDNet
