There are plenty of ideas floating around for the federal government to harness information and do it cheaper. In one of the latest, MeriTalk, an online community for government IT, recently concluded in a study that the government could save nearly $24 billion by adopting open-source applications, virtualization and cloud computing.

That may be a tough sell, because who knows if it is right. However, the survey predicts that most federal agencies would be starting from scratch with these endeavors. That means agencies could save much at the start of these projects, and much more as they proceed.

Here are some of their predictions:

• $3.7 billion for open-source software
• $13.3 billion for virtualization technologies
• $6.6 billion for cloud commuting

This likely does not include training workers, the cost of new technologies and the abandonment of old technologies. Nevertheless, in an age where everything counts, this definitely should not be a survey thrown on a back shelf to gather dust.

For more on saving IT dollars:
- check out this GCN.com article