The US and Europe – divided by a common Cloud cause?

Grazed from BusinessCloud9. Author: Stuart Lauchlan.

Last week’s formal announcement of the European Commission’s Cloud Computing strategy confirmed one thing: the Eurocrats in Brussels are leaning towards ‘a European Cloud’ in a big way and intend to achieve it through a combination of legislation, unification and standardisation. That has two immediate implications as national European government strategies – described by the Commission as not enough to achieve full potential of the Cloud – work out where they sit in this new push, while non-EU providers and governments, most notably in the US, must decide whether Brussels actions will lead to more open or more closed markets.

So what has the reaction been on both sides of the Pond to the forthcoming European Cloud? “The Cloud Industry Forum is keen to support positive credible action that encourages the adoption of Cloud Services and in that spirit the notion of aligning European member activity under a common ‘framework’ is sensible if it covers the truly practical issues that can impact adoption,” comments Andy Burton, chair of the CIF…

“The key issues to resolve really centre on the standards for interoperability and security such as inter-operation between different national or Departmental clouds; data portability; data protection; and, the conflict between European and national laws on data sovereignty and protection. These ‘fundamentals’ must be resolved both in the context of Europe as well as Europe’s wider relationship with other key markets, not least the USA.”…

Read more from the source @ http://www.businesscloud9.com/content/us-and-europe-divided-common-cloud-cause/12041