Prepare to invest billions in the cloud, EU warns businesses

Grazed from EUObserver. Author: Benjamin Fox.

Governments and industry should invest €45 billion in cloud computing by 2020 as part of an EU strategy to generate an estimated €900 billion in GDP and an additional 3.8 million jobs by the end of the decade.

The bold claims are spelt out in a draft leaked to EUobserver of the European Commission’s long-awaited cloud computing strategy set to be released next week by Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes…

Cloud technology involves data storage and processing across a range of remotely located computers accessed over the Internet, with the IT hardware being owned by providers allowing individual users to access it via the Internet. Supporters of cloud services claim that it offers large potential savings in software and energy consumption costs to businesses and governments by allowing them to store huge amounts of data cheaply and easily accessible. Research indicates that it is one of the fastest growing sectors of the digital economy…

Read more from the source @ http://euobserver.com/economic/117610