Europe slips in the cloud-readiness rankings, according to the 2013 BSA Global Cloud Computing Scorecard, as ongoing debates within the EU over privacy laws prove to be an obstacle for the cloud in the continent and beyond.
Compared with the 2012 scorecard, Germany is down to 4th place (from the 3rd), France is 6th (from 5th), Italy 10th (from 6th), Spain 11th (from 9th) and Poland 12th (from 11th). Only the UK retains the 7th place.
“We’re seeing patchy progress in the policy landscape for cloud computing,” BSA says. “Mismatched privacy and security rules are making it hard for data to flow across borders. Too many countries are chopping off pieces of the cloud for themselves. This undercuts economies of scale that can benefit everyone. To have a cohesive global marketplace, we need more bridges and fewer barriers.” Read more...