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...

By | 15 September 2020 | Data Management

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...

By | 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,...

By | 7 August 2020 | Data & Analytics

Google Cloud and Orange team up as cloud-telco cauldron continues to bubble

Google Cloud and Orange have announced a strategic partnership utilising edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI) among others as Google's European cloud expansion continues.

The deal, while under the partnership banner, can be seen more as another customer win chalked up for Google. Google will help 'accelerate the transformation of Orange's IT infrastructure and the development of future cloud services, in particular edge computing', according to the press...

By | 29 July 2020 | Applications

Nordic enterprises moving to multi-cloud strategies, says ISG report

Enterprises in the Nordic region are increasingly turning to multi-cloud strategies and seeking help from cloud and data centre providers to achieve their business goals, according to a new report.

The study, from Information Services Group (ISG), looks more towards managed service providers (MSPs), hyperconverged and colocation service providers rather than the likelier public cloud infrastructure giants. As a result, companies such as Basefarm, a Norway-based MSP acquired by...

By | 20 July 2020 | Adoption

Google Cloud and Telefónica partner for Spanish digitisation – with more cloud and telco convergence

Google Cloud has announced a new partnership with Telefónica to advance digital transformation in Spain as well as 5G mobile edge use cases.

The agreement will see Google Cloud launching a new cloud region in Spain - although this has yet to be ratified with Google Cloud's global locations map - which will leverage Telefónica's Madrid region infrastructure.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, noted the current situation as a marker for bringing this partnership...

By | 11 June 2020 | Europe

Microsoft unveils $1 billion Poland cloud and digital investment plan

Where one hyperscaler goes, another shall follow. Microsoft has announced a $1 billion cloud and digital transformation plan for Poland - almost nine months after Google Cloud opened up its facilities in the country.

Microsoft's initiative includes the launch of a new data centre region in Poland, as well as an agreement with Chmura Krajowa - literally 'national cloud' - to 'provide digital transformation expertise and broad access to cloud solutions across all industries and...

By | 5 May 2020 | Europe

Oracle and Microsoft extend cloud connectivity partnership with Amsterdam hub

Oracle’s cloudy partnership with Microsoft, announced in June, was one of the more eyebrow-raising stories of 2019. On the surface, it may have seemed peculiar, but digging down, the duo’s focus on retail customers – particularly with some retailers wishing to steer clear of AWS – made sense.

Now, the two companies are extending their alliance with the launch of a new cloud...

By | 13 February 2020 | Data Centres

Microsoft to launch cloud data centre region in Israel

Microsoft has announced the launch of a new cloud data centre region in Israel, bringing the total number of countries served by Azure to 21.

The region is expected to go live in 2021, starting with Azure and with Office 365 to follow. The move represents another EMEA expansion, following recent launches in Germany and Switzerland.

Among the list of customers using Microsoft's cloud in Israel are Sheba Hospital and the Tel Aviv Municipality, as well as cryptocurrency...

By | 23 January 2020 | Data Centres

Study shows continued cloud maturation in Nordics – with manufacturing a standout

A new report from Nordic IT services provider Tieto has found the region’s cloud landscape has matured significantly since 2015 from both a strategic and operational perspective – with Sweden and Finland fighting for supremacy.

The study, the latest Cloud Maturity Index which was based on responses from almost 300 decision-makers across the public and private sectors in the Nordics, placed...

By | 25 November 2019 | Europe