Premier Sean Chen today said the government will redouble efforts to expand public cloud computing services in order to stimulate growth in the domestic information and communications technology industry. The public and private sectors in Taiwan are both witnessing an explosion of interest in cloud technology.
After hearing Minister without Portfolio Chang San-cheng's modified plan for developing the cloud computing industry, the premier agreed that efforts should focus on increasing the value of applications as well as the industry's output.
An example of the usefulness of cloud technology may be taken from The New York Times, which scanned 11 million of its articles published from 1851 to 1922 and uploaded the images to an Amazon cloud platform for public access. The cost of uploading 1.5 terabytes of data came to merely US$1,000, demonstrating the synergy between hardware and software resources.
According to Minister Chang's cloud development plan, the government will pursue five main strategies: promote services of tangible benefit to the public, create tools for developing innovative applications, lay the foundation for system software, build the cloud infrastructure, all the while making use of green, efficient technologies.
This latest plan emphasizes streamlining and restructuring of processes among government agencies since cloud applications involve more than technical changes; they increase information transparency as well. By disclosing and sharing data on the cloud, the government can integrate processes otherwise independent to provide seamless service across different departments.
Revisions in the plan centered on uses of cloud technology for improving government efficacy, delivering practical benefits to the public, and bringing greater efficiency to businesses. The plan does not seek to introduce the technology to all government services.
The Executive Yuan also restructured the cloud computing development task force, adding two teams for applications promotion and industry development to be managed respectively by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Council for Economic Planning and Development. A program office will also be established to guide government agencies in setting up cloud-based services, in principle installing or upgrading software before hardware. The government stands to save considerable costs by sharing such basic cloud facilities.
Another modification to the plan entails an applications development and testing platform that marries locally developed products to government cloud applications. This scheme will lower government expenses and improve domestic R&D results.
Emphasizing utility as well as productivity, the plan identified 10 civic domains well suited for government cloud applications: public security, food products, health, the environment, agriculture, transportation, books, disaster mitigation, education and culture. Each of these cloud applications will help citizens in practical, palpable ways while reducing carbon footprints.
For instance, since the import of U.S. beef was greenlighted, the Council of Agriculture has been tasked with establishing a traceability system for domestically produced beef (which is ractopamine-free) by the end of the year. Cloud computing technology will be used to track 30,000 cows and process data from five safe-label demonstration stations, offering citizens greater assurances of food safety.