Sunderland City Council has deployed a city-wide cloud computing platform which it predicts will cut its annual operational costs by £1.4m for each of the next five years.

The cloud, which has been planned, designed and implemented by IBM, will provide an accessible platform for both the council and local businesses of Sunderland.

The local businesses will benefit from the ability to increase capacity without the need to invest in new infrastructure, train staff or acquire new software while the cloud will also offer the city council itself improved flexibility and collaboration across its offices and departments. It is predicted that the platform will be utilised by up to 4,000 end users.

The solution incorporates existing hardware and software, helping it to remain as cost-effective as possible, while it could also help the city reduce its carbon emissions.

The council has invested £5.7m into the project but expects to see a profitable return on this within the next five years of over £1m.

A cloud platform of this scale is relatively unique, especially in the UK, but IBM has experience of creating such environments in the US and China.

Paul Watson, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “The cloud is a cornerstone of our economic masterplan. The new infrastructure will lay the foundations of a smarter Sunderland, one that ensures the city is internationally recognised as a model for its operations and a prime location for inward investment.”

Lynn Ferguson, IBM industry executive for local public services, added: "As well as providing an infrastructure for the provision of services to the council, the Sunderland City Cloud deployment is designed as a platform with flexibility to meet the needs of many other city constituents.

"For example, it will be used to deliver cost effective services to enable the growth of small and medium-sized businesses and hence to help facilitate economic growth in the city.”