It was tempting to give this article the title “Austin floats on Cloud 9” (with thanks to the IT Minister responsible for Arriva, ARMS, Smart City, Sea Malta and now the ingenious Microsoft deal). But the writer is not bent on pulling punches, preferring to remain agnostic on partisan politics.

The government has unveiled a sweeping strategy that will establish, in partnership with Microsoft, an innovation centre and create its own internal “cloud computing” system – such as that used by other EU countries. Dr Gatt was reported to have said, “The goal of the innovation centre is to stimulate a strong ICT skills base in Cloud Computing and the development of Cloud Computing Solutions and Services that can be marketed locally and beyond our shores.”

Malta is a merited choice for such an investment, having ranked first in EU eGovernment Benchmarking in 2010, ranked fifth highest in the percentage of employees with ICT skills in Europe, and fourth among European countries in terms of eSkills activities by the government. The innovation deal is an initiative of Claudio Grech CEO of MITA, the same person who for a short while acted as CEO and main negotiator on behalf of the government on the multi-million euro residential ICT city being built at Ricasoli by Tecom. MITA’s three strategic drivers are job creation, support of education and development, and technology. When fully functional, the innovation centre will in turn save millions of euros a year in licence fees and pave the way for jobs of particularly trained workers in the new economy.

The key part of the new strategy outlined by Dr Gatt will be a five-year €26.8 million strategic partnership agreement with Microsoft Corporation, which includes lower enterprise licences, educational initiatives and the setting up of a Microsoft Innovation Centre that will be a pioneer focusing on Cloud Computing. Press releases state that the target date of completion is next year and included in the Enterprise Agreement is a provision aimed at trimming the annual licensing fees charged by Microsoft by 12 per cent. This is swelling but Apple Inc or Google may well have wanted to compete. It means the island will be using the latest version of Windows 7 and when fully functional the civil service is expected to boost its productivity and render an improved service to taxpayers. The novel idea to partner with Microsoft brings advantages such as free use of office software in schools benefiting some 28,000 users in state primary and secondary schools, including students, teachers and administration. It is a pity that the digital gap in certain pockets of government administration may not immediately gain from the enhanced mobility, communication and remote management offered. This is no fault of Dr Gatt; it is an educational handicap due to the low intake of students at secondary and tertiary level opting for science and advanced ICT subjects. Next year the proverbial harvest will be rich but there will not be enough field workers to reap it. Imagine, if you can, the entire island using Cloud computing, availing itself of the latest technology and speeding many times its access time for retrieving / processing data. The government can also push for “open source” software to be used more widely among thousands of central and local government’s desktop computers. By 2013, the strategy suggests, a majority of central government desktops could be supplied through a “shared utility service” – essentially a cloud service that lets users create documents online for free. Simply put, the move to a “government cloud” mirrors the system used by Google and other large companies, which put cheap “server” computers into huge data centres to provide computing power on demand, which is delivered where it is needed via the Internet. That would be provided to government departments and local councils, replacing the ageing and inefficient systems used in two data centres that are frequently run at far below their capacity because typically they are dedicated to one or two large departments e.g. Inland Revenue or Treasury.

Moving to a cloud-based infrastructure could cut costs of government computing significantly and, in an age when we are pressed to cut down on emissions (going “green”), it is expected to cut power usage. The Inland Revenue, for example, is currently seeing a huge demand for its online tax return system – but that peaks in the second quarter of each year and then tails off due to lower demand. This type of peak demand followed by a sheer drop is easily solved when using a cloud-based system shared among departments as naturally it could deal with sudden loads but using less power. But it is not without its Achilles heel, as the sudden release of so much data into the cloud brings with it problems of security and compatibility. Experts contend that to work with minimum disruption there should be a number of built-in safety factors. These include transparency, incident notifications, data restitution, control and certification, governing laws and enforceability.

With so much at stake in a cloud-based system it is imperative that there is a transparent set of standard indicators with regard to service and robust backup facilities. The Cloud operator should have the obligation to report in greater detail all incidents as well as steps taken to contain damage/leakages. This would allow the government or local councils to take all legal measures required to protect their operations. Naturally, to ensure continuation the government should have the absolute guarantee that, at any moment of its choosing, it gets data restitution via a latest backed-up version of data presented in a standard format. Control and certification means a Cloud provider should be certified by specialised agencies whereas the governing law which regulates the service provider should be ascertained given the vague geography of cloud computing.

Finally, the credibility of the above-mentioned criteria depends on their ability to collectively render ineffective any conflicting contractual terms imposed by the service provider. In this respect, the European Union is well armed to impose such constraints, as it already does on personal data protection. Nothing comes without its own benefits and risks. Cloud computing is a new concept and its operation will evolve and flourish in the more savvy nations. Still, there are pitfalls when things go wrong and any user bears the risk of having its service interrupted, data lost or corrupted although measures can be taken to keep secure copies by proactive government agencies. If hackers get access to cloud storage, then the government (and local councils) would witness a catastrophe, as the massive concentration of data is an irresistible invitation to attackers. Confidential and sensitive data could be in the hands of an unknown group – a recipe for disaster. On a positive note such concentration can provide the economies of scale that justify expenditure to invest in more robust security. The risk increases as cloud operators might be tempted to deploy data centres in less stable but cheaper countries tarred with looser contractual protection.

To conclude, it seems that Malta has come of age when it touches ICT. It will be shortly joining the list of other EU members who have started the exciting road to Cloud computing. Both UK and Ireland are racing ahead in this direction. Typically, Ireland has finally decided to take the plunge in the cloud computing sector and their Minister of Enterprise has established a study group that will look into its implementation within the government and the public sector. The Minister cited that by 2014, the cloud computing industry in Ireland could grow up to €9.5 billion and might attract 8,600 employees. It seems that Austin Gatt (the IT Minister) is on a good wicket and one hopes that he and his team continue to press ahead, building a digital future for the islanders nurturing the sweet nectar of Cloud technology.

Mr Mangion is a partner in PKFMALTA, an audit and business advisory firm.

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