London boroughs plan local cloud

Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton are aiming to get an infrastructure in place with proof of concept by this time next year, while Richmond and Wandsworth are expected to follow soon after. Chris Pope, director of transformation for Merton, told a breakout session of the Capital Ambition conference on 15 November that the boroughs are in the process of procuring a strategic partner and will start looking for solutions providers early next year. He said that Merton and Sutton currently use private cloud services, but that they believe that moving to a "community cloud", which is shared by a group of organisations with shared concerns, can provide further savings and support shared services. Pope acknowledged that the group will have to face various challenges in implementing the project, such as having different arrangements in place at the starting point, and having different aspirations for how they may use the service. They also need to ensure that the infrastructure meets the code of connection for the Government Connects Secure Exchange, but he said the technology is already available and should not create a problem. He added that: "There is no aspiration for a 'super borough' in south west London, but there is an increasing recognition of the need to bring services together and integrate more fully."