Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation». The presentation is mainly dedicated to the risks, challenges and opportunities that cloud computing represents for the Swiss Public Administration. In particular, it addresses the technical and organizational risks from a cloud consumer's perspective and shows up some of the latest trends and market developments.

1. Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 1

2. Agenda
 Federal Office of Topography swisstopo
 A Swiss Federal Agency in the «Public Cloud» − honestly?
 «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation»
 Facts and Figures
 Continuous mitigation of known risks
 Conclusion from 3 years of operation in the «Public Cloud»
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 2

3. Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 3

4. Law & Cloud
a perfect match
(based on our use case)
Federal Act on Geoinformation (GeoIG) Definition of «Cloud Computing»
1. July 2008 Fraunhofer-Institut,
Art. 1 Aim November 2010
„This Act has the aim of ensuring that geodata „Cloud computing is a model for enabling
relating to the territory of the Swiss convenient, on-demand network access to a
Confederation is made available for general shared pool of configurable computing resources
use to the authorities of the (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, an
Confederation, the cantons and d services) that can be rapidly provisioned at
communes, the private sector, the public and reasonable cost and released with minimal
to academic and scientific institutions in a management effort or service provider
sustainable, up-to-date, rapid and easy interaction.“
manner, in the required quality and at a
reasonable cost.“
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 4
© floofy

5. • Several Outages on our On-Premises Infrastructure due to
lacking Server Capacities and Network Bottlenecks
• Outdated Hardware and OS
• High Costs
• Unclear Distribution of Competencies
• Cumbersome and time-consuming internal processes
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 5

6. swisstopo’s «Cloud History»
• January 2008
Inquiry for the operation of the mapping application «Switzerland Mobility»
• April 2008
Go-live of «Switzerland Mobility» in the Amazon Public Cloud
• July 2008
Federal Act on Geoinformation(GeoIG) becomes law
• February 2009
Start migration of significant parts of the FSDI into the Amazon Public Cloud
• August 2010
Go-live of «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation»
• January 2011
Finalisation migration of the FSDI in the Amazon Public Cloud
• September 2011
Go-live of mobile version of «geo.admin.ch»
• 2012
Continuous mitigation of known risks
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 6

7. «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation»
in figures
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 7

8. «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation»
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 8

9. RISK 1: «geo.admin.ch» without Map Tiles
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 9

10. Measure 1: MULTI CLOUD SETUP for our 109 Map Tiles
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 10

11. RISK 2: «geo.admin.ch» unavailable
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 11

12. Measure 2: Multi Datacenter Setup + WAF (implementation ongoing)
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 12

13. RISK 3: Dynamic Cloud Costs
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 13

14. Measure 3: Real-time Cloud expense monitoring
Advice:
Establish a Real-time Cloud expense monitoring with «Billing Alerts»
from day one of your Cloud projects!
But be aware that:
• Cloudability is running on top of AWS
• It’s still beta
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 14

15. Conclusion from 3 years of operation in the «Public Cloud»
• Risk of «Data Loss» and «Unavailabilty» is mitigated more
affordably in a Cloud than On Premises (at least in our specific use case)
• Thanks to the «Cloud», our customers benefit of
a performant, flexible and affordable data infrastructure
Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 15

16. Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 16

17. Cloud Computing in the Swiss Public Administration using the example «geo.admin.ch: the geoportal of the Swiss Confederation» Hanspeter Christ
GARP / ACCA joint meeting, November 20, 2012, Ernst & Young Zurich swisstopo 17