EuroCloud Romania - Cloud adoption 2014

1. Cloud Adoption –
opportunities and
challenges
Elena Zvarici, President, EuroCloud Romania
26.03.2014

2. About EuroCloud
 EuroCloud Europe is an European federation of associations and
organizations dedicated to the adoption of the cloud model, acting as
accelerators for business, technological relationships and application
integration.
 EuroCloud is an independent non-profit organization and consists of a
two-tier setup where every European country can apply to participate in as
long as they respect the EuroCloud Statutes. In less than three years, 30
countries have a EuroCloud presence and in 21 European countries a
local Eurocloud association is formally established.
 Right now the established countries are: Portugal, Spain, France, UK,
Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden,
Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Poland,
Romania, Serbia and Hungary. The board directors of these countries are
also member of the EuroCloud Europe council and have a vote on
decisions to be made.
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3. About EuroCloud Romania
 EuroCloud Romania acts as a collective voice of the Romanian cloud
industry in order to allow for the development of a local cloud ecosystem
and to raise visibility on the Romanian cloud computing market on
European and international level.
 Active member of the EuroCloud community, EuroCloud Romania is
working for the development of the Romanian cloud industry, providing
awareness and education to providers and users of cloud services and
providing insight into the legal and business framework related to the
development of cloud services.
 EuroCloud Romania is a member of the Administrative Council
of EuroCloud Europe.
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4. What is cloud computing?
 Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift from centralised systems: it
is moving data, tools and processes online and delivering them as a
service.
 Cloud-based services include:
- the delivery of software (Software as a Service),
- the delivery of a computing platform, including the operating system (Platform as a
Service),
- the delivery of virtual machines (Infrastructure as a Service),
…based on user demand
 Added value for users
- Substantial reduction in fixed and sunk costs on IT infrastructure
- Elasticity in IT provisioning – the user only pays for the actual usage
- Up-to-date software
- High reliability of cloud infrastructure
- Ubiquitous access to resources 24/7
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5. Cloud adoption in Europe : opportunities / 1
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6. Cloud adoption in Europe : opportunities / 2
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7. Cloud adoption in Europe : opportunities / 3
 The cloud is recognised as an important enabler for productivity and
better services; easier access to data and simplified sharing
 The European Council in October 2013 asked the Commission "to make
every effort to put Europe at the forefront of cloud adoption”
 Nov 2012, The European Commission has launched the European
Cloud Strategy and works towards promoting the creation of new
European innovative cloud services, the adoption of cloud services
throughout businesses and public sector customers.
 The Cloud for Europe project: uses pre-commercial procurement as an
instrument for public sector innovation. The pre-commercial procurement
identifies innovative solutions for cloud services that best fit public sector
needs, but also provides better information to public procurers about the
potential of cloud services.
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8. Cloud adoption in Europe : challenges / 1
 Lack of awareness of cloud benefits for private and public sector
 Lack of awareness of legal requirements related to data protection and
legislation
 Transition of acquisition practices: transfer of CAPEX expenditures to
OPEX
 Current procedures and regulations not conceived with innovative IT
solutions in mind
 Financing of cloud implementations: restrictive structural funds
eligibility criteria
 Quality or lack of fast broadband network in some European countries
and areas
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9. Cloud adoption in Europe : challenges / 2
 A wave of European protectionism is entering European politics and
administration, following the 2013 Snowden revelations
 New data protection regulation: to be finalized and adopted by the
members states in 2014, but slow process
 Financing cloud innovation through structural funds : ongoing pilots
(ICT Innovation grants), negotiations taking place between Bruxelles
and members countries
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10. Page  10
We would be happy to help.
elena.zvarici@eurocloud.ro
http://www.eurocloud.ro
Do You Have
Any Questions?
Thank you !