AT&T Unveils Cloud Storage Solution for Federal Government Agencies

AT&T (T) has launched a cloud-based storage solution that is designed to meet the security requirements of federal government agencies.

The new release, AT&T Synaptic Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS) for Government, enables federal government agencies to store information in the cloud.

“Federal agencies want the mobility, collaboration, information sharing and efficiency that the cloud offers, but they can’t afford to adopt cloud solutions that sacrifice performance, reliability and above all, security,” AT&T Government Solutions President Kay Kapoor said in a prepared statement. “Our new STaaS for Government [offering] delivers the key attributes federal buyers require and allows them to move to the cloud with ease and confidence.”

AT&T said STaaS for Government is “a multi-tenant, community cloud” that features:

STaaS for Government leverages the same EMC Atmos object-based cloud storage platform that is used for AT&T’s commercial cloud storage service.

Federal government can use the cloud to save nearly $19 billion

Recent data indicates the federal government could save money with the cloud, but the majority of federal agency leaders are not leveraging it.

A MeriTalk survey of 159 federal IT executives showed the federal government could save $18.9 billion, or 23 percent of the average agency’s IT budget, by migrating its applications and services to the cloud.

The majority of federal agency leaders, however, gave their agency a C-grade or below on their progress toward leveraging the cloud.

Chris Smith, AT&T Government Solutions’ vice president of technology, said he believes more government agencies could adopt community cloud solutions soon.

“While cloud is not appropriate for every agency, in every instance, there’s no question it can deliver compelling efficiencies for many, if not most, applications, and we’re seeing increased appetite from government customers for cloud conversion strategies — especially around community cloud solutions, which, for many agencies, represent an appealing mix of the cost, security and feature choices that exist around cloud,” he said in a prepared statement.

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