Cloud Computing

Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift from today's centralised IT systems: it is moving everyday information, tools and processes online and delivering them as services. Cloud services include the delivery of software (Software as a Service), infrastructure and storage (Infrastructure as a Service), either as separate components or as a complete platform (Platform as a Service) based on user demand. Cloud computing provides elastic, on-demand computing resources bringing forward the promise of computing power as a utility. Individuals or organisations can scale up or down their demand and pay for what they use. Cloud computing is a trend which will make a long term impact on the market and the structure of the IT and telecommunications industries. It is moving the hardware (computers and storage) away from the end users and is transforming the way software and their associated services are delivered. Together with the transformations that the Internet is currently bringing to these sectors, it may challenge the status quo of much of the familiar ICT industry. Cloud computing is emerging against a background in which Europe has few large companies in IT and no significant Internet actors. Europe's main strength in the area remains the telecommunication providers, their supply industry and the mobile communications industry. The initial development of the cloud computing industry is reflecting this situation and European industry is lagging behind in the provision of cloud infrastructures as well as in the provision of the associated platforms and software. This does not reflect the size of the European software market, which in the last years it has been estimated to be approximately 30% of the global market.  Cloud computing will also have a strong impact on the European IT end users since it will change the way they provision their IT needs. This will affect both the industrial / business users as well as the consumers. The speed at which this transformation occurs will drive the demand for cloud computing solutions and will in turn influence the speed at which the cloud provisioning sector develops in Europe. This study will focus on the expected demand for cloud computing in Europe. Since this demand is highly influenced by the policy context and the regulatory framework, it will also address the main barriers to the take up of cloud computing in Europe by industry and consumers.

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=usersite.FP7DetailsCallPage&call_id=403

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