Connectivity Is the Bedrock of Any Good Cloud Strategy
As the city of San Francisco moves to an IT infrastructure that utilizes both private and public cloud resources, the IT team is taking a close look at its network and IT backbone, says Miguel Gamiño Jr., the city’s CIO and the executive director of the Department of Technology.
“That’s where most of our investments are going right now: fortifying and improving the performance of our network. We also have, in parallel and in advance of our cloud strategy, a very formal and detailed connectivity planning process. It is the bedrock of a strong cloud strategy,” he says.
The organization has a well-established municipal fiber network, but is also working to add capacity for future use. “We’re continuing to invest in and expand that, which means building our own dark fiber network to all of our city facilities,” says Gamiño.
The city has a dig-once policy that ensures that conduit — core infrastructure — is put into the ground every time a street is excavated. This reduces disruption to the public and adds a significant foundational asset when they need to expand the city’s fiber footprint.
“If conduit has already been placed underground, I can pull fiber through it for almost pennies on the dollar. Connectivity is what’s going to allow us to be innovative and aggressive in our cloud strategy adoption because all those things sit on top of a strong connected base.”
To learn more about state and local governments laying a strong IT foundation with cloud technology, read our feature story "Hybrid Clouds Offer State and Local Governments the Best of Both Worlds."
