Slow Internet Hinders Cloud Uptake In UK
The UK could slip further down the scale of European economies without a superfast broadband infrastructure
Cloud infrastructures are less likely to benefit UK companies compared with most of the leading five European economies, according to a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
The study, sponsored by EMC, is based on numerous assumptions and uncertainties, as acknowledged by the CEBR, but it forecasts that the EU’s top five economies stand to gain €177 billion (£150 billion) and create nearly half a million jobs a year by 2015.
Faster Broadband Adoption Is Crucial
The breakdown of this figure reveals that Germany would benefit most with €50 billion (£42 billion), France would gain €37 billion (£32 billion), and next comes Italy with €35 billion (£30 billion). In fourth place, the UK would only profit by €30 billion (£25 billion), slightly ahead of Spain at €25 billion (£21 billion). Naturally, the UK’s share of the 2.4million new jobs would also be constrained.
To reverse the UK’s lowly ranking in benefiting from what EMC calls the “cloud dividend”, the government needs to deliver on its promise to provide super-fast Internet access to every part of the country. Unfortunately, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that this is unlikely to happen until 2015, so if the speculative predictions of the CEBR hold true, the UK will be penalising itself.
Rainer Erlat, EMEA president at EMC, said that the agility and competitiveness afforded by private and hybrid cloud computing represents a real opportunity for European businesses. “It is widely accepted that economic recovery will be achieved and sustained via a combination of driving down economic debt while encouraging commercial competitiveness,” he said. “Cloud computing is disrupting the inefficient, inflexible and complex IT of old and represents a real way to contribute to this.”
The report suggests that, as cloud computing service offerings are increased, they will become progressively cheaper through economies of scale. This growth in cloud adoption could mean that, by 2012, 20 percent of companies will not actually own their any IT assets, as predicted by Gartner.
Piers Linney, joint CEO of cloud services and unified communications company Outsourcery, a founder member of the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), said, “The cloud revolution has been likened to the third industrial revolution after the automation of production and the arrival of steam power in the 19th century. It is becoming clear that cloud computing is going to achieve mainstream adoption in 2011 as businesses realise the benefits, and that cloud service providers can offer security and resilience that even large corporates are unable to afford.”
