US agencies migrating to Web

The General Services Administration's decision last week to move its e-mail program to a Web-based system modeled on Google's popular Gmail program is part of a major government drive to increase federal use of cloud computing.

The GSA is the first federal agency to make the Internet switch, and its decision follows the Office of Management and Budget's declaration last month that the government is now operating under a "cloud-first" policy, meaning agencies must give priority to Web-based applications and services. Government information-technology contractors, many of them based in the Washington area, have been anticipating the shift for months, trying to position themselves for future work. The Obama administration has said that cloud computing will allow more people to share a common infrastructure, cutting technology and support costs. But some technologists have warned that Web-based software may not be as secure as systems built for a dedicated purpose. And the programs often depend on stable network connections. The push for Web-based computing is part of a broader government effort to consolidate its 2,100 data centers by at least 40 percent by 2015.