On 27 September the European Commission outlined its new cloud strategy. The thrust of the strategy is boosting cloud uptake among the 27 member states and across the economy. The strategy includes a package of measures to build trust in cloud computing and boost a competitive digital single market. A European approach is crucial to achieving economies of scale and unleashing benefits for both providers and users.

One of the key actions in a European Cloud Partnership with industry and member states is to harness the public sector’s buying power, shape the European cloud market and increase the chances for European cloud providers to grow.

Helix Nebula is a shining example of how European commercial providers and leading research institutions have embraced the cloud to create an ecosystem for scientists and SMEs, and ultimately create a cloud market for the public sector in Europe. Helix Nebula has also established a European Cloud Partnership with clear commitment from industry and commercial providers.

The initial focus of this unique initiative is on meeting the massive IT requirements of European researchers. However, big data analytics and processing on heterogeneous resources is a challenge common to both eScience and many businesses. Helix Nebula is well placed to address these challenges by bringing together major European stakeholders. “A key goal of Helix Nebula is to develop a viable business model that ensures a sustainable and long-term facility for European scientists, businesses and governments”, explains Burkhard Neidecker-Lutz, SAP.

“Helix Nebula is a guiding force and strength within Europe to enable the commercialisation of big science in the public cloud”, says Michael Higgins, CloudSigma. CloudSigma, which has been nominated as one of the top 25 European cloud computing rising stars, has adopted an unprecedented open, customer-centric approach to the public cloud.

Insights on the engineering challenges that are pushing the boundaries around cloud were discussed at the Structure Europe conference, 16-17 October in Amsterdam. Bob Jones, CERN and Robert Jenkins, CTO, CloudSigma presented in the session “large clouds for large colliders: insights from the CERN science cloud”, sharing their approach to addressing managed networking challenges, ensured security, and the smooth movement of vast amounts of data between different locations.

Daniele Catteddu from Cloud Security Alliance Europe comments: “We are very excited to see Helix Nebula achieving interoperability across different clouds. The promotion of standards is one of the key actions proposed by the new European cloud strategy. We believe that the whole European cloud market, and in particular the Helix Nebula consortium, will greatly benefit from such a clear policy decision from the Commission."

Related links
http://www.helix-nebula.eu/
http://event.gigaom.com/structureeurope/schedule/