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Cloud Computing: EU Announces Support for the Cloud
In the US, the Obama administration over the last year has been pushing cloud computing hard across federal agencies. Now in the EU, a similar call is being made for European governments to adopt cloud computing.
Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the Digital Agenda for the European Commission, said that “We need to act to support speedy uptake of cloud computing in Europe. The cloud market will grow, bringing opportunities for existing suppliers and new entrants. And cloud buyers, including the public sector, will buy more with less and become more efficient.”
Kroes proposed at the World Economic Forum conference held this week in Davos the creation of a European Cloud Partnership which would bring together public authorities and industry to create a common policy for how cloud procurement would be handled by EU government bodies. Challenges in being able to create a policy that all can agree to include a lack of cloud standards, security issues, interoperability, lock-in and existing laws. The partnership is to be funded initially with 10 million euros, or about $13 million.
Given the current economic climate in Europe, one of the goals of the cloud partnership is to be able to make available computing capability to public and private sector bodies at a lower cost than currently available.
Kroes emphasized in her address that the plan is not to try to create an independent European-based super-cloud, but instead the goal is to ensure that European governments can create cloud-friendly policies which will enable them to be cloud-active. The initial charter for the partnership is to take a three phase approach, and it is expected that work on the three phases will continue over the next two years.
The first phase is to develop a set of common requirements for cloud procurement.
The second phase is to create a proof-of-concept solution that meets all common requirements.
The third phase to create a reference implementation based on the proposed solution.
