Why you should look at a global footprint for your cloud: A 10-point guide

With the increased awareness around cloud solutions, most organisations immediately think about reducing cost and shortening time-to-market. As more ideas around cloud are discussed, other criteria like performance, security, compliance, workload segmentation, and how to integrate the cloud become more relevant to an existing environment. The profile of a global cloud footprint; however, is an equally important consideration. 

It may be time to think about why having a...

26 November 2020 | Data Management

Google Cloud and OVHcloud team up for European ‘trusted cloud solution’ partnership

Google Cloud and OVHcloud have announced a strategic partnership to help European organisations with cloud data security - as issues around data sovereignty and privacy rumble on.

The two companies intend to 'build joint solutions that empower customers to draw all the benefits of a multi-cloud and open approach, as well as drive a critical ecosystem of third-party developers', in their own words. In practice, OVHcloud will launch a new hosted private cloud offering by utilising...

10 November 2020 | Data Management

How IONOS is looking towards privacy and Europe for a solid share of the cloud market

The hyperscale providers continue to dominate the cloud infrastructure and hosting market. According to industry watcher Synergy Research in May, the combined market share of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google alone was 56%.

Yet one area has the potential to cause concern - and it has pricked the ears of other players looking to capitalise.

In August, CloudTech reported on the ending of the Privacy Shield agreement by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The...

6 November 2020 | Data Sovereignty

The US trade war extends from 5G to cloud – with more disinformation and distraction

Comment We have already witnessed how the US administration’s campaign against Huawei succeeded in reversing the UK government’s original decision to allow Huawei to participate in the UK 5G rollout. Even as questions are being raised about the necessity and the economic consequences of this ban, the US is now stepping up its campaign by focusing on Huawei’s cloud business as well. This comes as a strangely welcome distraction for US cloud players that have recently been found to all...

5 November 2020 | Data & Analytics

Deutsche Telekom and OVHcloud team up for Gaia-X – as Macron says Europe must resume cloud battle

French cloud and hosting provider OVHcloud and T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, have announced a cooperation to create a 'trusted public cloud offering' for Germany, France, and other European markets.

The two companies will contribute to the Gaia-X initiative, a collaboration between the European Commission (EC), Germany, France, and various organisations within the continent.

The proposed offering will 'address the specific needs of the public sector as...

15 September 2020 | Data Sovereignty

The next steps for the EU and US post-Privacy Shield: How can Europe win the digital race?

Opinion It has been seven years since Edward Snowden exposed the level of surveillance by US intelligence agencies that one might have rather expected from totalitarian countries. Petabytes of private or company data – no matter from which country – are made available to US authorities by default without suspect or a court decision.

While little is known publicly about current practice, it would certainly be more than surprising if the powers and capabilities of the US...

19 August 2020 | Data Sovereignty

Privacy Shield ruling could lead to dark clouds ahead for hyperscalers, advocates warn

The ending of the Privacy Shield agreement by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) could have serious ramifications for the major hyperscale cloud providers, according to privacy activists.

Privacy Shield is an EU-US agreement which 'provides companies on both sides of the Atlantic with a mechanism to comply with data protection requirements in support of transatlantic commerce', in the words of the framework's website statement.

Max Schrems, a leading privacy advocate,...

7 August 2020 | Data & Analytics

Thoughts on encryption legislation – and the real ‘link’ between 5G and coronavirus

Opinion Conspiracy theories are nothing new, but the recent one that blamed the rollout of 5G networks for the spread of Covid-19 is one of the more bizarre examples in recent memory. Not only is it very obviously untrue to anyone that understands either the technology or virology, but there is also little real correlation. New Zealand which was one of the first countries to declare itself virus-free is accelerating its current 5G rollout while Brazil and the USA which have seen the highest...

21 July 2020 | Compliance

What are you going to do when your cloud goes down? Rethinking shared responsibility

A short history of modern business IT might report that the Noughties were all about taking baby steps in cloud applications such as Salesforce, Google Apps, Taleo, Ariba and NetSuite. The 2010s saw clouds proliferate as pioneers took a ‘cloud-first’ stance and used platforms including AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform to pilot, test and run services. In the 2020s, we can be confident that businesses will attempt to harness their existing cloud investments, formalising...

2 June 2020 | Data Management

Three reasons to perform your cloud security risk assessment ASAP

The unprecedented shock to world markets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely permanently change the way we work. Millions must work from home, and businesses are scrambling to find ways to maintain productivity.

The shift to utilising a completely remote workforce has been relatively seamless for some companies and utterly chaotic for others. Adding to the chaos, cybercriminals are targeting organisations of all types with coronavirus-related phishing campaigns and...

30 April 2020 | Data & Analytics