OpenNebula: The European Management Platform to Build IaaS Clouds

Last Thursday, the blog of the European Commission Digital Agenda for Europe published an article entitled "OpenNebula: the only European open-source management platform to build IaaS clouds! A success story in exploitation of FP7 research results". It briefly shows how OpenNebula is playing an important role in driving and supporting the transition to cloud computing and thus accelerating the pace of innovation in Europe.

We are proud of being part of a project that is shaping the future of cloud computing!.

A Roadmap for Advanced Cloud Technologies under H2020

This is the title of the last report prepared by the EC Cloud Expert Group that proposes a concrete roadmap to help Europe overcome existing technological challenges and reach a key position in the global Cloud market. The previous reports on Advances in Clouds - Research in Future Cloud Computing evaluated the state-of-the-art and developed future research directions in cloud computing. This report is the main result of our last meeting in October 2012 to analyze the expected market development in which Europe can participate and which technological challenges will have to be faced in order to reach these scenarios.

So, enjoy the report. I think it is a must-read for people defining Cloud Computing strategies, developing innovative research lines, or exploring emerging market opportunities beyond today’s Clouds.

3 Ways the EU Is Supporting Open Source

Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, presented on Friday at the Open Source Conference 2012 the three ways the European Union (EU) is supporting Open ICT systems, namely open-source, open-procurement, and open-data. Mrs. Kroes outlined the huge benefits of open-source and open-standards, the several hundred-million-euro benefits per year of Open ICT systems for the public sector alone, and how the EU is using open source solutions itself.

 

Mrs. Kroes made reference to OpenNebula as flagship of European open-source cloud innovation supported by EU investments that is laying the basis for interoperable data centers.

Since 2005, OpenNebula has helped many organizations develop value by building innovative cloud services and solutions to meet their user and customer needs in new ways or to meet new market needs. OpenNebula is playing an important role in driving and supporting the transition to cloud computing, and in accelerating the pace of innovation on the datacenter side.

We are really proud of this!

European Union Unveils its Cloud Computing Strategy

During the last two years I have been reporting about the different consultation events undertaken during the development of the cloud computing strategy. Now, finally, the European Union has just announced a strategy to boost the use of cloud computing among its members in the private and public sectors and an implementation plan based on three cloud-specific actions:

• Cutting through the Jungle of Standards 
• Safe and Fair Contract Terms and Conditions 
• Establishing a European Cloud Partnership to drive innovation and growth from the public sector

The document entitled Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing in Europe sets out these actions and serves as a call on all stakeholders to participate in their implementation.
This is very good news, but we have to remember that creating a good strategy is only the start. The real challenge is in execution.

Why is Europe Behind the US on Cloud Computing?

I have decided to write this post after receiving several emails from different people asking me about the reasons for the slower adoption of cloud computing in Europe. In comparison to the US, it is clear that EU is some years behind in size and maturity of cloud infrastructure provision and adoption.

In my view, this delay is mostly due to different factors:

A. From the supply side

• Most of the main providers of cloud services are US, and although they are building data centers in Europe, they initially focused on the US market. Only Amazon reaches almost a 60% market share of the IaaS Market according to the 451 Group 
• Europe does not have large suppliers who may compete in public provision with the major US suppliers. Only the European Telecoms are big and powerful enough to compete, but they still have to become big players in this space
• European ICT industry is mostly formed by innovative SMEs. More than 99% of all European businesses are SMEs
• Main skills of European ICT industry are in provision of software services, so working at a level of abstraction higher than the provision of infrastructure as a service. A trait of the European software industry is its focus on applications as opposed to development tools, middleware, and system infrastructure software

B. From the demand side, and according to the study Quantitative Estimates of the Demand for Cloud Computing in Europe and the Likely Barriers to Take-Up by IDC

• EU organizations are more conservative, being slower in the adoption of new services and technologies
• Small organizations are usually the most reluctant adopters 

C. Last, but not least, market fragmentation

• Europe does not have a single digital market, and the main concerns about cloud services are security, data location and legal jurisdiction over data. So there is a clear need for a legal framework for international data protection and privacy to overcome fragmentation and allow to trade across borders

In my view the US has currently a better developed cloud infrastructure and Europe runs a high risk of becoming dependent on non-European providers, and this is critical if we consider cloud as the next utility. However, Europe has many advantages and strengths that can lead to opportunities in a cloud market which is about to rapidly accelerate:

• A strong Telecom industry with operators that are starting to leverage their unique advantages
• Many hosting and small cloud providers developing innovative cloud offerings 
• EU-funded research projects and infrastructures, and open source technologies that are bringing innovation to the market and helping create an open interoperable cloud ecosystem 

The Commission is preparing the European Cloud Computing Strategy considering demand and supply side concerns in order to make Europe not only cloud-friendly but cloud active. This Strategy seeks to

• Harmonize the legal framework for cloud
• Raise awareness & promote uptake of Cloud computing, mostly among SMEs and public authorities
• Promote interoperability, portability and open-source to create an open interoperable cloud ecosystem 
• Support research on critical issues to create better cloud 

Work has started with the publication of a report that a select industry group has prepared with key recommendations to the European Commission on the orientation of a Cloud computing strategy for Europe, and the report on Advances in Clouds - Research in Future Cloud Computing prepared by the EC Group of Experts in Cloud Computing that includes a state-of-the-art view on cloud computing technologies, its position in and its relevance for Europe.

European Digital Agenda: From Cloud-friendly to Cloud-active

Yesterday we participated in the second edition of the cloud computing workshop within the Digital Agenda Assembly 2012 aimed at defining the European Cloud Computing Strategy. Last year, the aim of the workshop was to identify the main elements of a European cloud strategy and the possible need for public-policy intervention, considering demand and supply side concerns. This edition has mainly focused on policy issues to coordinate cloud computing in Europe, international aspects of cloud, and key areas in contract terms, such as data preservation after termination of the contract, data integrity and disclosure. 

The agenda, presentations and recommendations are available at the Digital Agenda web site.

Advances in Clouds - Research in Future Cloud Computing

It has been more than two years since the European Commission published in January 2010 its pioneering report about the Future of Cloud Computing. A group of experts was established with the aim to evaluate the state-of-the-art and develop future research directions in cloud computing. Since then, there has been considerable advances in the field, developments have closed some gaps that were identified in this report, but more challenges have emerged.

We were re-convened by the European Commission in 2011 in order to capture these changes and maintain a state-of-the-art view on cloud computing technologies, its position in and its relevance for Europe. The experts, led by Keith Jeffery, Lutz Schubert and Maria Tsakali, have produced a final version of this report entitled Advances in Clouds - Research in Future Cloud Computing. The report brings valuable information for people defining Cloud Computing strategies, developing innovative research lines, or exploring emerging market opportunities beyond today’s Clouds. It is a must-read.

Roadmap on Infrastructures for e-Science in Europe

The last version of the Roadmap on Distributed Computing Infrastructure for e-Science and Beyond in Europe was released last week by the SIENA initiative. The main open-source cloud computing projects, like OpenNebula, and standards bodies, like DMTF, OASIS, OGF, ETSI, and SNIA, have contributed to this roadmap that assesses the situation, identifies issues, and makes recommendations regarding the adoption and evolution of open standards-based interoperable grid and cloud computing infrastructure (e-infrastructure) or to support research in Europe.

As member of its Editorial Board, I recommend to use this roadmap as a reference of the work in cloud standards being developed by the large number of standards bodies and other collaborative groups. I hope this roadmap is a first step to achieve a closer collaboration between them to avoid the existing situation where different working groups are covering the same functionality and needs. As it was pointed out in the Workshop Towards a Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe: Matching Supply and Demand organized at the 1st Digital Agenda Assembly, one of the main barriers to cloud computing adoption is interoperability and portability across cloud providers and products. This is needed to avoid vendor lock-in and create a healthy competitive cloud computing market in Europe.

The roadmap was presented at Cloudscape IV Advances in Interoperability and Cloud Computing Standards, the 23rd of February in Brussels, including presentations from key stakeholders. One very interesting conclusion of the workshop is how open-source is driving forward development and adoption of standards in cloud computing. Most of the initiatives in research infrastructures that were presented during the event are using OpenNebula as vendor-agnostic open platform for building and managing their cloud, and its interfaces are evolving into the standard in this area.

Key Challenges in Cloud Computing to Enable Future Internet of Things

"Key Challenges in Cloud Computing to Enable Future Internet of Things" is the title of the talk about future Internet of Things that I gave today January 19th at The 4th EU-Japan Symposium on New Generation Networks and Future Internet. The talk provides an architectural view of Internet of Things from the perspective of cloud computing, defines its main requirements for the underlying processing infrastructure, and describes the challenges in cloud computing that should be addressed to meet these requirements. The talk concludes with the description of the instruments that should be used to maximize the value of research and to support the collaboration between Japan and the European Union, namely openness, standards, coordination with running initiatives, and code re-use.

Industry Recommendations and Consultation Process to the European Cloud Strategy

The European Commission opened a consultation process in May 2011 to collect the opinions of individuals, businesses and public bodies across the continent, prior to the release of a European Cloud Computing Strategy in 2012. The online consultation closed in September, and the Commission has recently made public a report with its main results. Regarding innovation, respondents broadly agreed on the need for future research to improve current cloud computing commercial offerings.

A select industry group has prepared a report with key recommendations to the European Commission on the orientation of a Cloud computing strategy for Europe, proposing some actions for the European Commission and industry. The report presents 10 key recommendations and proposes some actions. They cover legal framework, market and technology related recommendations and actions. Main research and innovation recommendations are to build on the past and foster collaborative research in cloud computing, and to foster interoperability and data portability in the Cloud.

More information about the development of the EU-wide strategy on Cloud Computing is available at the European Commission site.

Results of the Workshop Towards a Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe

The European Commission has published the results of the Workshop Towards a Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe: Matching Supply and Demand organized at the 1st Digital Agenda Assembly. The aim of the workshop was to identify the main elements of a European cloud strategy and the possible need for public-policy intervention, considering demand and supply side concerns. The results include two reports and one video. One of the reports is the below slide with the summary of the workshop presented in the plenary session. The second report is a more complete description of its purpose, context, discussions, actions and future steps.


The video is a very short interview with me, as speaker at the workshop, describing the challenges identified and the actions to address them.

The following is a transcript of that interview.

Cloud Computing will play a major role in tomorrow’s economy, first as innovation platform to increase productivity and competitiveness, and secondly as a new service industry that will provide many opportunities for European ICT companies. The workshop has helped identify the main areas of a European Cloud Strategy both to boost adoption of cloud computing and to lead cloud computing research and innovation. The workshop consisted of three different panels.

• The first panel has identified the different aspects that should be addressed to ensure that Europe can play a leading and active role both in using and in enabling cloud computing
• The second panel has explored the different opportunities for innovation and research to help create better clouds and to accelerate its adoption
• The third panel has discussed the needs of standards for interoperability, including a legal framework for international data protection and privacy

A View of the Challenges, Opportunities and Innovation Potential of Cloud Computing for the European Cloud Strategy

Unleashing the Potential for Innovation of Cloud Computing is the title of the presentation that I will give in the workshop Towards a Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe: Matching Supply and Demand at the 1st Digital Agenda Assembly next Friday, June 17th. The aim of the workshop is to help identify the main elements of a European Cloud Strategy. As pointed out by Rainer Zimmermann, DG INFSO, Head of unit: Software & Service Architectures and Infrastructures, The impact of cloud technologies goes beyond reducing IT costs and improving business efficiency. Companies of all sizes and government institutions will achieve new levels of productivity and innovation.

In the presentation, which is available online at the workshop site, I introduce the key challenges and gaps to be addressed in order to accelerate the adoption of cloud computing and so to unleash its full potential for innovation, contributing to increase the competitiveness and productivity of the European economy. For each gap I briefly describe the issues that, in my view, European Commission funding should address to help bridge such gap. The presentation mostly focuses on the technology challenges by elaborating on the open research issues on cloud computing that should be addressed to create better clouds, the importance on innovation-focused research to be cloud-active, and the opportunities for the ICT industry in this new service industry. OpenNebula is also described as European success story in cloud computing research and innovation. Finally open-source is presented as a model for innovation and as a vehicle to bring open interoperable cloud computing to the European industry.

Europe should play a leading role not only in using cloud computing and leveraging its full potential to foster innovation, but also in proving the enabling components to build better cloud solutions. I am firmly convinced that both represent the main opportunities for the European ICT industry.

Hope to see you there!.

Identifying the Elements of a European Cloud Strategy

The 1st Digital Agenda Assembly, which will be held in Brussels on June 16-17 2011, will include the workshop Towards a Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe: Matching Supply and Demand to help identify the main elements of a European Cloud Strategy and the possible need for public-policy intervention, considering demand and supply side concerns. The workshop, organized by Maria Tsakali and chaired by Megan Richards, is composed of three different panels:

• Cloud Computing: what will Europe do?
• Cloud computing fostering innovation
• Towards cloud interoperability

I will participate in the panel about fostering innovation with cloud computing, where we will discuss the opportunities presented by the cloud and the potential for innovation. Other panelists are senior-management representatives of European companies, organizations and networks, and the European Parliament.

The workshop will build on and broaden the consultation process on a European

Cloud Computing strategy launched by Vice-President Neelie Kroes in the World Economic Forum Davos, 27 January 2011. The strategy includes three main areas:

• First, the legal framework. This concerns data protection and privacy, including the international dimension. It also concerns laws and other rules that have a bearing on the deployment of cloud computing in public and private organisations. And it concerns users' rights insofar as they are provided for by law.
• Second, technical and commercial fundamentals. We want to extend our research support and focus on critical issues such as security and availability of cloud services. As a mediator, the Commission can also play a stronger role in the technical standardisation of APIs and data formats, as well as in the development of template contracts and service level agreements.
• Third, the market. We will support pilot projects aiming at cloud deployment. To really harness the power of public procurement we want to engage with our public sector partners on Member State and regional levels to work on common approaches to cloud computing.

Registration is now open.