In September 2021, Japan took a leap with the establishment of its Digital agency and the creation of the government cloud. With the goal to build a society in which no one is left behind by improving convenience, health, and happiness through digital technology, Japan’s Digital Agency represents the nation’s bold commitment to digital innovation across government and society.

In June 2024, two cloud engineers from the Digital Agency, Kazuma Takeda and Shinichi Nishihata, shared their process and learnings at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit Japanthe largest AWS learning event in the country. For those who were unable to attend or watch virtually, this post summarizes their presentation.

The Digital Agency’s government cloud

As the central command for Japan’s digital transformation, the Digital Agency began pursuing the development of a government cloud in 2021. The government cloud aimed to build a fast, flexible, secure, and cost-effective cloud service environment for the 12 central government ministries, 1,788 local government entities, and semi-public sector organizations. Aligning with the normative guidelines for appropriate usage of cloud services in government information systemsthe Digital Agency has been driving a complete reform and modernization of government cloud usage systems.

However, such endeavors faced challenges like a lack of human resources and vendor staffing, inexperience with cloud technology, and cultural resistance to change.

“When we were developing a cloud-based government system, we had challenges that made it difficult to quickly design and build an architecture that would be optimal for users. For this reason, adoption was often limited to simple infrastructure as a service (IaaS) migration, and the resulting systems were both expensive and failed to utilize the true value of cloud technology,” said Takeda.

To overcome these hurdles, the agency turned to cloud service providers (CSPs), including AWS, for additional resources and expertise.

The power of partnership

To ensure quality, improve productivity, and set an example for modern designs, the Digital Agency formulated reference architectures (RAs). These RAs demonstrate optimal cloud architectural standards tailored to the characteristics of current administrative systems. Essentially, they are templates based on best practices and agreed-upon standards, akin to prefab walls used to build a house.

The RAs are organized into general administrative, operational blocks and nonfunctional blocks, which are combined to create model system patterns. The architecture of these blocks is centered around AWS Managed ServicesBy using these reference architectures, the agency aimed to streamline the development of government cloud systems and ensure they adhere to industry best practices.

Between November 2023—when RAs were first offered—and June 2024, they’ve been used in system planning on approximately 40 migration projects. Hundreds more are in the pipeline.

“We were able to shorten the length of the government cloud design period by using RAs. Even nontechnical staff will be able to help build it,” said Takeda.

Accelerating government cloud migration with AI-powered architecture reviews

The Digital Agency is also “live reference architectures” by providing sample applications in infrastructure as code (IaC). This is most commonly used in software development to build, test, and deploy applications. It can support system design and help users understand how developing the system functions.

In order to migrate more than 800 national and regional systems, it was essential to streamline migration reviews. That’s why the agency’s cloud migration unit began using ClaudeAnthropic’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) model on Amazon Bedrocka fully managed service that offers a choice of high-performing foundation models (FMs).

It checks the architecture of system configurations and, more importantly, suggests improvements and generates code as a reference for the AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK)All this will reduce the burden on staff and the time required to review system configurations. This enables a smoother migration to the government cloud.

“The Digital Agency plans to continue utilizing reference architecture along with generative AI to reduce the burden on government cloud users and realize fast and efficient system building,” says Nishihata.

Focused on the future

The Digital Agency’s ongoing work on RAs will continue to add value for government cloud users. It will improve usability, expand use cases, and increase the efficiency of fee estimates and calculations for cloud usage.

The Digital Agency’s initiative represents a significant milestone in Japan’s digital transformation journey. It signifies a renewed commitment to fostering innovation, enhancing citizen experiences, and propelling the nation toward a future where technology empowers society. AWS is fully committed to supporting the realization of this visionary endeavor.

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