The Government has endorsed the commencement of cloud services through a whole-of-government approach as part of the rollout of cost-effective and efficient computing services.
Minister for Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), Timothy Masiu made this announcement.
He said there has been progress with the government’s digital transformation efforts regarding the IGIS project and IGIS data center.
He said the ICT Department since March has taken steps to start moving government agencies to the cloud.
The ICT Department will coordinate the project and provide the virtual cloud arrangements so the government can move away from the legacy problems associated with the on premise owned and operated infrastructure model such as IGIS.
Minister Masiu highlighted that government computing costs were an annual headache and the decision to migrate to cloud services was taken as a cost-saving measure.
He said the government on average spends at least K160 million yearly on general telecommunications and internet services with private ISPs and this annual expenditure comprises of K40 million on internet access, K100 million on telephony services and K20 million on dedicated internet connections, data storage and website hosting.
Minister Masiu said: “The National Executive Council has already directed government agencies to coordinate the planning and implementation of all cloud-related services with the Department of Information and Communication Technology.
“I would be expecting my Department head and the staff to be kept busy with requests for cloud onboarding and shared services, among other things.”
Meantime, the Ministry has already commenced discussions with PNG DataCo on the strategic usage of its data centers.