— Posted by Erastos Filos, DG INFSO, Coordinator Intelligent Manufacturing Systems/ICT for Factories of the Future

 At a roundtable that I attended last week at CeBIT, European Commission’s Vice-President for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes discussed with four industry executives how Cloud Computing could impact manufacturing.

The chairman of the roundtable, Dr.Massimo Mattucci, head of the European Factories of the Future Research Association – EFFRA -, an industry-led body, opened the discussion by highlighting two open issues: firstly the technology readiness of clouds which is a crucial prerequisite for wide industrial deployment; secondly, some yet unsolved legal and security aspects of a Europe-wide cloud infrastructure that need to be settled beforehand.

Neelie Kroes‘ replied similarly to what she had declared earlier this year, at the World Economic Forum in Davos – WEF -, that Europe needs a Cloud partnership. “Europe has to become not only Cloud-friendly but Cloud-active“. She said: “I invite Europe’s manufacturing industry to join this partnership and to start embracing the technology“.

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— Posted by by David Hendon, Senior Advisor Ofcom.

EU regulators are thinking hard about the effect of the data explosion fuelled by Smartphones, tablets and video apps on radio spectrum requirements and on broadband infrastructures.  But at the same time, cloud computing offers the promises of transformed business models, new economic growth and new jobs. But with the new opportunities come new challenges. Europe’s policy-makers and regulators need to think about this too!

A single market for cloud services is still in the making. Though widely hailed as a means to reduce start-up costs and increase flexibility for new businesses, it is my impression that there is still some hesitation to fully embrace cloud technology. However well-founded that might be, this hesitation should not be allowed to hamper the growth and job creation offered by cloud computing. Rather we should explore how to provide users and providers with conditions that allow for competition and innovation. Read the full entry

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— Posted by Rainer Zimmermann, DG INFSO, Head of unit: Software & Service Architectures and Infrastructures

The impact of cloud technologies goes beyond reducing IT costs and improving business efficiency. Cloud computing combined with web based applications and services are preparing the ground for new European start-ups that could play a positive role in the IT landscape. Companies of all sizes and government institutions will achieve new levels of productivity and innovation. The cloud and web services industries will be a key source of new jobs and could help making great gains in addressing major healthcare, education and other societal issues. 

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