New York City has hired IBM for cloud computing for the technology departments of more than 50 of its city agencies, the US technology and consulting firm said.
The city, which faces a deficit of $4.4bn, is expected to save $100m in five years by harnessing the location-independent computing format, IBM added.
The format, IBM claims, helps organisations to reduce costs, improve services delivery and enable business innovation.
The company said it will be paid about $10m for the first phase of the project. The program is likely to be extended, it said.
"By modernizing technology infrastructure, government organizations are able to speed the deployment of new technologies, reduce energy and operating costs, increase security, and better understand their data in order to expedite benefits tracking, root out waste, and provide transparency to the public on performance," IBM general manager Bridget van Kralingen said.
