This month, we're in the middle of collecting data for our 2nd Government Cloud Computing Survey. To peak your curiosity (an to entice your participation) here is a sneak peek at some of the results.

First, I want to thank the Government customer community for a significant increase in their participation. Although industry participation has improved as well, the main purpose of this survey is to better understand how cloud computing can best address Government customer needs. We believe that this increase in Government participation has improved our measurement of the customer's familiarity with cloud computing, resulting in an increase in the percentage of customers reporting an unfamiliarity with cloud computing.

In an effort to better understand the issues and challenges that customers hope to address with cloud computing, we expanded the issues and challenges list in the second survey. Initial data seems to indicate that this move has improved our ability to provide insight into this aspect of the market. Data indicates that while the top two main issues continue to be datacenter and budget limitations, organizational changes and the resulting increase in stakeholder community is also of critical importance.

Finally, the data shows that security remains the dominant barrier to adoption, with 71% of respondents naming that as the top customer concern.

If you haven't completed the survey, please go to www.dataline.com/Survey.html and complete the short survey. Complete results will be presented at the 2nd International Cloud Computing Conference and Expo in New York City, March 30th - April 1, 2009.

• Government Cloud Computing Survey