European firms join forces to create cloud initiative

A large American computer company recently announced plans to lead a joint research initiative with 15 European partners. The partners include telecommunications firms, healthcare and media companies and standards bodies.

According to Computerworld, the group hopes to develop an object-based, standardized “smart-cloud” storage architecture.

The company said the aim of the collaboration is to improve the delivery of data and cloud storage services across borders and vendors. The project will target some of the challenges facing cloud storage, such as cost-effectiveness, data mobility, security and computing demands.

The initiative, called “VISION Cloud - Virtualized Storage Services for the Future Internet” is being funded through a $21.4 million grant from the European Union.

"Users now require capabilities that are far richer than simple raw bits and basic storage," said Hillel Kolodner, a researcher and lead architect for the project. “With VISION Cloud, our aim is develop the infrastructure to support this prominence of data and data-intensive services."

 

Interest in cloud computing in Europe has been growing, but it has required significant collaboration between nations. In particular, conflicting laws regarding data retention and storage have posed a hurdle for European cloud development.