The group is aiming to get basic infrastructure in place with proof of concept by this time next year and are already said to have started the process of procuring a strategic partner and will start looking for solutions providers from January.

Merton and Sutton currently use private Cloud services but feel a "Community Cloud” shared by a group of organisations with shared concerns would be an ideal vehicle to provide both further savings as well as support a move to more shared services.

The former's director of transformation, Chris Pope, says the group will have to face various challenges in implementing the project, such as having different arrangements in place at the starting point and having potentially different aspirations for how they may use the service.

They will also need to ensure that the infrastructure meets the code of connection for the Government Connects Secure Exchange.

But Pope dismissed any suggestion the move was any kind of basis for a kind of South West London/North Surrey 'super borough', as the move is really driven by “an increasing recognition of the need to bring services together and integrate more fully”.

Source: http://www.publictechnology.net/sector/local-gov/london-boroughs-plan-their-own-cloud