Why Cloud Should Matter to Government

When the Federal Government announced its decision in 2008 to build a National Broadband Network (NBN) it took (arguably) one of the biggest financial and political risks in the history of our  Federation. Ever since the NBN was announced the Government has been challenged by political opponents and sections of the media to demonstrate the value of the NBN. Those opponents of
the NBN and the Government have claimed it would be a huge white elephant – a colossal waste of taxpayers’ hard earned and scarce resources and a tragic misallocation of national effort and resource at a time of global financial instability.

The Government’s task of explaining the possibilities of the NBN have never been underestimated. Too much vision and hype and the argument sounds like spin. Too little imagination and the investment offers too little improvement for too big a risk. Often asked is the ‘unknown-unknown’ question, ‘What will be the next big thing with an NBN?’

This Wednesday 15 February 2012 at the National Convention Centre in Canberra, before a sell-out audience, there will be an opportunity to hear how the NBN will enable one emerging technology to offer substantial benefits for Governments and citizens alike.

At the AIIA  Cloud Strategy 2012 summit the Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy and the former CIO in President Obama’s White House, Vivek Kundra, will deliver keynote presentations addressing the opportunities for Cloud Computing in Government.

These presentations will be webcast live on Wednesday morning from 8.30am. To view the webcast you should visit the AIIA website here.