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Jan 12
27
The European Commission has announced its intention to make Europe one of the most “cloud-active” regions in the world with a cloud partnership and a €10 million investment.
The digital agenda for the EU has been developed over the past year, Eurocomissioner Neelie Kroes announced at the World Economic Forum, this week in Davos.
The Commission trusts that cloud-based services will help flagging economies by boosting productivity and putting industrial-scale computing power within the reach of all public and private sector entities at a lower cost.
Kroes pledged an initial investment of €10 million to start the partnership that will bring together public authorities, industry vendors and firms interested in the use of the cloud to work towards tackling obstacles holding back the adoption of cloud computing.
“We need to act to support speedy uptake of cloud computing in Europe,” Kroes said. “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.”
Organising the partnership has already begun. However, Kroes warned that the group is not concerned with building a “European super-cloud” but to set up a strategy as a whole to ensure Europe becomes not just cloud-friendly, but “cloud active”.
“I expect good progress in setting it up in 2012 and first results in 2013,” Kroes said.
The initiative has been backed by HP, with the firm’s European head of innovation and sustainable computing Ian Brooks claiming that such a partnership will be vital in ensuring the future growth of cloud computing.
“Cloud is not a fashion, but a fundamental shift in our industry driven by a changing workforce, new technologies and the evolution of business models,” Brooks said.
The initiative follows the recent report that councils are turning to the cloud to improve flexibility and help reduce government spending.
The European Cloud Partnership is part of the Commission’s overall cloud computing strategy, which will be published later in the year.
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