16.11.2012

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has restructured its IT environment by shifting to the use of a "private cloud" through Microsoft products. The first stage of the project implemented in September and October 2012 is aimed at optimising the number of MoF servers and at ensuring the flexible use of available system resources. The expected results from the physical reduction of the number of servers by 25% and the reduction of overhead costs and out-of-guarantee maintenance are BGN 2,500 per month of savings. The use of cloud technologies will help improve the quality and effectiveness of operation of MoF IT resources and reallocate server resources for a maximum short period of time so as to ensure the required reservation. This is the first project of its kind in public administration.

Cloud computing is a new technology that allows an optimization of the hardware resources of an organization by providing for additional possibilities for managing the available software. The selection of Microsoft is prompted by the fact that there is a contract signed between the Council of Ministers and the software company for utilization of its products and that is why the Ministry of Finance has not paid any licenses. The Company will also give advice throughout the life of the project at its own expense, with the maintenance and the refinement being catered for by the Information Systems Directorate of the Ministry of Finance. The "private cloud" helps achieve great reliability and failure resistance as well as maximum use of available physical resources.