style="background-color: transparent;">"A model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction”. Back in 2011, when the two US computer scientists Peter Mell and Timothy Grance formulated this definition of cloud computing, the seeds of the enormous potential of this technology were already starting to grow. Since then, the use of this new computer architecture has become more and more common, though not as fast as some predicted. This happened gradually as system engineering elaborated different technological advances reducing businesses’ privacy and security concerns. There is still a long way to go, but, according to the excitement that the Digital Transformation is generating in so many sectors, including Public Administration, today there is a growing awareness of the disruptive impacts that cloud technologies may have on management and operational processes. We are going “back to the future”: the future of industry 4.0.

Speed, functionality, savings

After all, Mell and Grance had guessed it. "Ubiquitous, convenient, on demand": a solution able to generate effective responses upon request and on a continuous and functional basis. A solution that, in the presence of large amounts of services to be assembled and organized, can even generate economies of scale: just think about the virtuous mechanisms that can be triggered through hybrid cloud architectures. Here, the mix of operations between public and private data centers can be adjusted in relation to the amount of activity to be carried out. Above all, this can take place under increasingly competitive service continuity conditions: supported by micro-service-based development architectures and frameworks such as devops, taking into account the business-related aspects of the services delivered, the cloud has indeed guaranteed considerable improvements in business continuity. The potential cost containment which cloud technology can offer should also be noted: this can occur when the processing volume to be met by the system becomes more intense and the data set articulation to be connected becomes more complex. Cloud computing is essentially an IT solution where architecture competitiveness and convenience can really be achievable goals. Every day more, cloud computing is thus emerging as a platform enabling the introduction of truly innovative projects in organizations. A great opportunity for everyone.

Public Administration keeps pace as the cloud grows: Cloudify NoiPA

According to the Cloud & ICT as a Service Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, in 2016 the Cloud market in Italy amounted to more than 1.7 billion euros, thus recording an 18% increase when compared to 2015. Are we at the turning point of an exponential growth curve? Probably. Despite the Italian delay in adopting broadband, internet itself is in fact experiencing unstoppable growth, involving everyday almost three Italians out of four, both at work and during free time (XIVth Report on Censis Communication). The cloud is growing because internet reaches more and more users and because, at the same time, the range of services that internet provides is increasing. The Italian Public Administration is keeping pace with this change. With Cloudify NoiPA the Italian PA is indeed building a unified management system for all of its staff: about 3.3 million employees deployed over 10,000 administrations, managed by a scalable cloud solution, will be aggregated through a blockchain technology providing security and reliability.

Shared knowledge

In 2009, in his book "Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step-by-Step Guide" David Linthicum wrote: "If you think you have already seen this movie, you are right: cloud computing is based on the time sharing model we used to rely on years before we could afford our computers. The idea is to share computing power between many companies and people, thus reducing, to those who are using it, the cost of that computing power. The value of the time share and the core value of cloud computing are pretty much the same, but resources are better and cheaper today”. Cloud computing is therefore a great secular process of shared knowledge. The Italian PA is doing its part, bringing resources, expertise and experiences into the country.