Cloud computing grant to benefit several towns

For the second year, the Hampshire Council of Governments will be using a state grant to boost the information technology capabilities of selected area towns.

Last year, an $80,000 Community Innovation Challenge grant was used to help Chesterfield and Hadley adopt cloud computing as a means of improving the reliability of Internet and email service.

Another Community Innovation Challenge grant of $105,000 announced last month will benefit Chesterfield and Hadley as well as Rowe and Westhampton. This year’s money will be used for more advanced cloud-computing purposes, such as sharing software.

Prior to receiving a share of the initial grant, Hadley relied on a dial-up Internet connection that was not always reliable and computers that were not connected to each other, according to Town Administrator David Nixon.

“We were able to move to a reliable ISP and switch over our email service to a cloud-based service, so now we can access our emails from any computer,” Nixon said.

In the current year, Hadley hopes to take additional steps to bolster its IT capabilities, such as widening the use of GIS, which currently is used only by assessors and the town’s sewer division. Nixon cited several departments, including police, fire and inspectional services, that could benefit from the mapping technology.

Amherst, which is providing some of the cloud-computing server capability the smaller towns need, also will receive a share of this year’s grant.

“Instead of the towns having to invest in infrastructure in the form of a server and all the infrastructure and the annual maintenance fees that go along with that, they will basically be subscribing to the cloud-based a la carte monthly fee for the services that they share to utilize,” said Todd Ford, the executive director of the Hampshire Council of Governments.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” Ford added. “But certainly with coordinated software packages, it makes sense to have it housed and run by trusted government entities that understand that, rather than subbing it out to Amazon or Google.”