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Friday, 28th September 2012
Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing in Europe
Source: European Commission
From the Introduction:
‘Cloud computing’ in simplified terms can be understood as the storing, processing and use of data on remotely located computers accessed over the internet. This means that users can command almost unlimited computing power on demand, that they do not have to make major capital investments to fulfil their needs and that they can get to their data from anywhere with an internet connection. Cloud computing has the potential to slash users' IT expenditure and to enable many new services to be developed. Using the cloud, even the smallest firms can reach out to ever larger markets while governments can make their services more attractive and efficient even while reining in spending.
Where the World Wide Web makes information available everywhere and to anyone, cloud computing makes computing power available everywhere and to anyone. Like the web, cloud computing is a technological development that has been ongoing for some time and will continue to develop. Unlike the web, cloud computing is still at a comparatively early stage,giving Europe a chance to act to ensure being at the forefront of its further development and to benefit on both demand and supply side through wide-spread cloud use and cloud provision.
The Commission therefore aims at enabling and facilitating faster adoption of cloud computing throughout all sectors of the economy which can cut ICT costs, and when combined with new digital business practices, can boost productivity, growth and jobs. On the basis of an analysis of the overall policy, regulatory and technology landscapes and a wide consultation of stakeholders, undertaken to identify what needs to be done to achieve that goal, this document sets out the most important and urgent additional actions. It delivers one of the main actions foreseen in the Communication on e-Commerce and online services; it represents a political commitment of the Commission and serves as a call on all stakeholders to participate in the implementation of these actions, which could mean an additional EUR 45 billion of direct spend on Cloud Computing in the EU in 2020 as well as an overall cumulative impact on GDP of EUR 957 billion, and 3.8 million jobs, by 2020.
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By Adrian Janes

Having begun his career in academic libraries, Adrian Janes is currently an Information Services Librarian with the London Borough of Havering.
In this role, he has particular responsibility for information from both the UK Government and the European Union. He wrote a detailed report on sources for the latter which was published by Free Pint Ltd. in 2007. He is also involved in training and publicising online reference resources and is a regular contributor to DocuTicker.
Adrian can be reached at adrian.janes@freepint.com
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