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The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) today (January 25) announced the launch of a one-stop portal to promote the wider use of cloud computing services and technologies.
The InfoCloud portal (www.infocloud.gov.hk) was developed under a joint initiative by Hong Kong and Guangdong authorities to promote cloud adoption. As part of this collaborative measure, the Economic and Information Commission of Guangdong Province also rolled out a similar portal (www.infocloud.gd.gov.cn) for access primarily by the Guangdong community. The two portals are cross-linked and were jointly launched at the second meeting of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Expert Committee on Cloud Computing Services and Standards today.
The InfoCloud portal puts together a shared pool of information and resources including sample use cases, guidelines and best practices for achieving the desired benefits in adopting the cloud computing model.
"We aim to provide useful references for both cloud consumers and providers, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to facilitate their selection, management and provision of cloud services," the Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Daniel Lai, said.
"In particular, the portal includes advice on good practices and guidelines in respect of security and privacy which are crucial to the provision and use of cloud services," he added.
For cloud consumers, the portal provides general knowledge such as benefits and risks of using cloud services to more specific information on considerations and points-to-note in adopting the cloud computing model. There are checklists for SMEs for selecting and using cloud services as well as checklists for individuals on data protection in the cloud environment.
For cloud service providers, the portal offers industry insights and references on technical standards for different aspects of cloud computing, such as security, data communication, format and so on.
"We will continue to work with our Guangdong counterparts to enrich the content of the portal with more success stories and information on the latest cloud technologies and standards in both places," Mr Lai added.
Ends/Friday, January 25, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:10
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