Berlin City Data Cloud

Through Open Government Initiatives the access of Open Data gains more and more importance. By using several scenarios from the state of Berlin the possibilities of evaluation, aggregation and integration of Open Data is realizable. The idea of publishing administrative and economical data of small and medium sized enterprises combined with citizen feedback, leads to the development of a new concept which is built on IBM Cloud Technology and emphasizes the capabilities of citizen participation and market friendliness.

The solution offered in the pilot project by Fraunhofer FOKUS and IBM shows the possibilities of hybrid clouds for the public sector. The pilot allows the private sector to keep sensitive data in the private cloud while using the public cloud for open data provisioning. Although cloud computing offers far more efficiency and effectiveness for the public sector – there is a set of questions to be addressed before a broad implementation of this concept. The major issues are found in the field of security and privacy. Today, a private cloud offers all that is needed in terms of security and data privacy. But the private cloud lacks two characteristics of cloud computing: elasticity and flexibility.

With the help of modern cloud solutions, public sector expenses for IT infrastructure and related end-user support can be significantly reduced. For a monthly fee, for example – if necessary

– IT services are rendered on the basis of a simple, use-dependent model, whereby advance infrastructure expenses no longer arise. In addition to the cost savings, cloud computing also increases the quality of IT services: services and applications can be customized quickly and without complications according to changed volume requirements, and replaced with newer versions. Highly qualified IT experts from the provider help to optimize the cloud services offered by them and are available with their expertise in case of problems.

In view of the Open Data movement, cloud computing also seems to be perfect for publishing data into the public cloud. The government is already a major producer of open data, that needs to be made available for the citizens. This trend is strengthened by the EU Directive PSI of public sector information.

IBM is helping clients excel in cloud computing, providing secure and reliable Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions.

Cloud computing will require an increased focus on community-driven innovation, capitalizing on the power of people both inside and outside the organization to define and create new offerings and services. It will demand “IT without boundaries”-systems and processes that break down traditional silos and simplify access to information in order to deliver better business outcomes. Cloud computing offers organizations dramatic increases in agility and efficiency-mandatory innovation to ensure speedy, cost-effective delivery of products and services.