The State Commission for the Digital Economy and Public Information is seeking additional funding for the State Data and Cloud Services Center (SCDC), which aims to provide additional virtual machines (VMs) to government agencies.
The Commission has requested 2.5 billion baht per year to cover the cost of 25,000 additional VMs, but the Fiscal Office has approved only half of this amount. "With the 1.1 billion baht provided, the commission will apply for another 700 million baht from the Digital Economy Fund to ensure business continuity," Commission Secretary-General Putchapong Nodtaysong said on Saturday.
He also added that government agencies have expressed interest in using up to 40,000 VMs for their cloud services, but the current budget will only accommodate 30,000 VMs. To prevent shortages of resources, the commission will implement measures aimed at the efficient use of cloud resources, including the requirement to return reserved VMs to agencies that have not used them for more than three months.
"Moreover, the stored data must be linked or integrated with the databases of other related agencies," he said. “Insignificant data such as photographs and CCTV footage should be stored on the agencies’ own servers.” Putchapong said the commission has held discussions with the National Telecommunications Operator (NTC) about the possibility of creating a platform called GDCC Marketplace, which provides services aimed at improving the efficiency of digital online transactions.
