Cloud Computing

In 2007 The New York State Forum entered into discussions with leadership of The NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications to, in partnership, extend the benefits of The Forum to the New York metropolitan area. The outcomes of those discussions quickly became known as The Forum's "MetroNY Initiative". The work that was subsequently launched by the New York State Forum in cooperation with DoITT, is based on the successes of the New York State Forum, in particular its relationship with members of its IT Corporate Roundtable. This relationship provides a completely neutral forum in which thought leaders from State and City government and the corporate IT sector engage in open dialog around some of today's most persistent IT challenges and, together, offer innovative approaches to resolution. The MetroNY Initiative leveraged the rich knowledge base represented by its membership and participants in the initial event on September 30, 2008. Participants of events in the future will encounter sessions that support the exchange of valuable educational content, and promote the policies and practices of effective, equitable and secure use and management of information resources.

The first event in September 2009 focused on cloud computing and featured presentations by NYC Commissioner Paul Cosgrave and Greg Benson, Executive Director, NYS Forum, as well as two thematic presentations, Cloud Computing, by JANUS Associates and Open Government: Lessons Learned, by Sun Microsystems. Over one hundred metro-NY government and IT corporate leaders attend this session.

As follow-up to the initial MetroNY event held on September 30th Commissioner Paul Cosgrave requested that a Cloud Computing Work Group be created by The Forum. Additionally, a follow-up survey of all who participated on September 30th yielded cloud computing as the topic of greatest interest. On October 9, 2009 The NYS Forum's Corporate Board formally created the Cloud Computing Work Group and Commissioner Cosgrave named Mike Bimonte, DoITT Deputy Commissioner for IT Services and Marilyn Kingfester, Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of Buildings, as interim, governmental Co-Chairs of the Work Group. The Forum's Corporate Roundtable has named Steve Bobarakas of Oracle and Jim Adams of JANUS as the corporate Work Group Co-Chairs. On Wednesday, November 4th the initial Work Group leadership meeting was held.

NYS Forum leadership is proceeding with the planning of additional events on cloud computing and information can be obtained by contacting The Forum at 518-438-7414 or info@nysforum.org.