The government has announced that the long awaited channel for the public sector to purchase cloud computing services, is now open for business.

The CloudStore, as it will be known, will feature around 1,700 apps provided by more than 250 suppliers. The store aims to allow public sector bodies to buy software and infrastructure more quickly, cheaply and with greater transparency.

“The launch of CloudStore is an important milestone in the Government’s ICT strategy to deliver savings and an IT system fit for the 21st century,” said Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.

“By creating a competitive marketplace, the G-Cloud framework will constantly encourage service providers to improve the quality and value of the solutions they offer, reducing the cost to taxpayers and suppliers.”

The government says it hopes CloudStore will increase the proportion of public-sector IT services from small and medium-sized enterprises.

“It gives SMB suppliers of niche products the same opportunities as bigger organisations supplying services,” Maude added.

Examples of services that will be on offer through G-Cloud include: email, word processing, system hosting, enterprise resource planning, electronic records management, customer relationship management and office productivity applications.

The G-Cloud framework has been under development for more than two years, with the aim of providing a route for the easy procurement of IT services on a ‘pay as you go’ basis.

The Cabinet Office has said cloud services should account for 50% of central government IT spending by 2015.