In a move likely to be seen as controversial given the sensitivity of police data, the Metropolitan Police is planning how to run a variety of front-end systems - for managing patrols, operations, incidents and investigations, managing evidence and forensics, and collating information - in the cloud. It is understood that if the project goes ahead, the Metropolitan Police would be the lead customer, with other forces buying services through a framework deal.

Under the Strategic Cloud Programme the systems would be supported by to collaboration, knowledge management, risk management, information sharing and business intelligence analytics tools. The aim is for them to be standards-based and scalable, with strong security, consumption based pricing and high service level agreements.

On 27 July, London's Metropolitan Police held an event with suppliers and 50 police forces across the country, with a view to discussing the key requirements.

It plans to sign a seven to 10 year deal with a lead supplier or a consortium of suppliers, possibly splitting suppliers between those providing infrastructure and those supplying the connected software.

It hopes to replace 30 crucial systems and around 600 legacy applications, mainly based on Sun servers and a Microsoft Windows/Intel architecture.