Cloud computing is the term for a new form of distributed computing which allows consumers, enterprises and governments to store their data and their applications on networked servers rather than on local computers and data centers and to tap into computer applications and other software via the cloud, freeing themselves from building and managing their own technology infrastructure In addition to reducing operational costs, analysts say the shift to cloud technologies allows radical business innovation and new business models.
Some industry experts in Europe believe only giants like Google and Amazon can achieve the necessary economies of scale in building the massive data centers that underpin the cloud. They fear that national projects will be white elephants and question whether big enterprise customers like Danone and Carrefour will be willing to pay the price of French sovereignty. “Interconnection of hybrid clouds is not a simple problem and the risk is that the benefits come slowly and that local champions cannot grow and reach critical mass fast enough,” say Pierre Liautaud, a Frenchman who has worked in the tech industry for 25 years, holding executive positions at both IBM and Microsoft and heading up start-ups. He is currently organizing a November conference for the European Tech Tour Association to highlight European start-up companies in cloud computing.
Most start-ups in Europe are concentrating on creating applications that run on top of infrastructure built and run by American companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Trouble is, some say that it will be impossible for European companies to be competitive if they don’t control the underlying cloud computing infrastructure and infrastructure software. They argue that Europe can not afford to allow American companies to control a technology that may underpin every consumer, business and government service of the future.
“Europe can not stay away from owning its own cloud infrastructure,” says Francois Bourdoncle, CEO of Exalead, a Paris-based software provider which is positioning itself as a provider of infrastructure software for the cloud. “It is a critical element of competitiveness, not even considering the sovereignty part of it, to control where your data is hosted, how it is being used and how you access it.”
Bourdoncle and others say the industry is at an inflection point. Some liken it the moment in time to when Europe realized that computer chips would be key to the future and needed to have its own global champion. The French and Italian governments set about fusing two national semiconductor companies to create STMicroelectronics, today one of the top ten global chip companies.
At stake is a market that tech consultancy IDC projects will grow from $17.4 billion in 2009 o $44 billion in 2013.
But in order for cloud computing to reach that kind of market size, the industry has to address important issues that are alarming consumers, businesses and governments. Challenges include keeping data and systems secure, maintaining the privacy of people and organizations, avoiding being locked into one cloud provider and creating the right regulatory balance between customer protection and business efficiency, according to a report prepared by Accenture and the World Economic Forum.
Distributing the storage of data is supposed to make it safer but many European companies, particularly those in Germany, are reluctant to allow American companies to transport their data outside of a country’s national borders.
European companies can and should build infrastructure software because that is where companies can make the most margins and it will bring more choice and competition to the market, he says.
http://www.informilo.com/20100518/cloud-computing-borders-may-be-horizon-europe-276