Ar trebui oare Europa să fie lider mondial al « regiunii cloud-ului de încredere”?
Adoptarea pe scară largă a cloud computing este esenţială pentru îmbunătăţirea nivelului de productivitate în economia europeană, dar răspândirea cloudului ar putea incetini in lumina dezvăluirilor recente despre PRISM şi alte programe de supraveghere. Aceste dezvăluiri au condus, de asemenea, la necesitatea unor iniţiative naţionale sau regionale de cloud computing. Această provocare trebuie să fie abordată şi, de asemenea, transformată într-o oportunitate la nivel european: pentru companiile care operează în Europa, pentru a oferi servicii sigure de cloud care sunt solicitante de tot mai mulţi utilizatori la nivel global.
Comisia este categoric împotriva unei abordări de "Cetatea Europa" pentru cloud computing . Europa are nevoie de o piaţă unică pentru cloud computing. De exemplu, propunerea reglementărilor privind protecţia datelor va oferi o bază juridică uniformă pentru protecţia datelor cu caracter personal în Europa. Principiul fundamental este necesitatea de a privi dincolo de frontiere atunci când vine vorba de cloud computing. Iniţiativele separate sau o abordare de tip Cetatea Europa nu va lucra.
Realizarea acestei ambiţie nu este o sarcină doar a Comisiei Europene, ea începe cu furnizorii de cloud şi include toate părţile interesate: statele membre, industria şi utilizatori individuali.
MEMO
15.10.2013
What does the Commission mean by secure Cloud computing services in Europe?
Europe should aim to be the world's leading 'trusted cloud region'.
Widespread adoption of cloud computing is essential for improving productivity levels in the European economy; but the spread of cloud could slow in light of recent revelations about PRISM and other surveillance programmes. These surveillance revelations have also led to calls for national or regional cloud computing initiatives.
This challenge must be addressed and also turned into a Europe-wide opportunity: for companies operating in Europe to offer the trusted cloud services that more and more users are demanding globally.
The Commission is strongly against a “Fortress Europe” approach to cloud computing. We need instead a single market for cloud computing. For example the proposal for the data protection regulation will provide a uniform legal base for the protection of personal data in Europe. The fundamental principle at stake is the need to look beyond borders when it comes to cloud computing. Separate initiatives or a Fortress Europe approach is not going to work.
Achieving this ambition is not a task for the European Commission alone, it begins the cloud providers themselves and includes all stakeholders: Member States, industry and individual users.
What is cloud computing?
‘Cloud computing’ in simplified terms can be understood as the storing, processing and use of data on remotely located computers accessed over the internet. Usually it involves sharing computer resources, sometimes with partner agencies or branches of the same organisation, but often it means sharing the computer resources of third parties with other third parties. It is this sharing of systems which gives cloud an economic edge over traditional "on premises IT". It means that users can command almost unlimited computing power on demand, that they do not have to make major capital investments to fulfil their computing needs and that they can access their data from anywhere as long as an internet connection is available. And by adopting common (standard) IT solutions the development and maintenance costs are spread over much large communities, meaning, cheaper and often better quality and often highly professionalised and secure software services.
Europe’s cloud opportunity
While Europe is not the leading provider of cloud services globally it is known for relatively high standards of data protection, security, interoperability and transparency about service levels and government access to information. These characteristics provide a solid basis for further development of cloud computing in Europe, as users become more conscious of the need for cheap, flexible IT services, without wanting to compromise privacy.
In particular, the cloud puts the best IT solutions within the reach of small firms and organisation. These small firms are the bedrock of the European economy, and means the cloud will enable a particularly big leap forward for productivity in Europe if firms can be convinced to use it.
