European telcos remain cautious in cloud gold rush
North American and Asian operators account for 90% of cloud investments
London, UK –January 17, 2012 – European telecom operators risk being sidelined in the global cloud computing market as aggressive North American and Asian operators spend billions to build international presence. New research from Informa’s Telecom Cloud Monitor has found that European operators accounted for only 7% of the US$13.5 billion that operators committed on cloud assets in 2011. North American and Asian operators accounted for 90%, or US$12 billion.
‘European operators are being outgunned in cloud infrastructure,’ said Camille Mendler, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. ‘Although they are working to stimulate local demand, their investment strategy remains cautious.’
Uncertainty around European security and privacy laws, coupled with continuing economic weakness, are gating cloud investment, believes Mendler. The European Commission aims to define a common legal framework for cloud computing in 2012.
‘It’s urgent to defuse concerns about cloud computing in Europe to drive market development,’ said Mendler. ‘European operators are major players in this endeavour with their trusted brands and sales outlets.’
Nevertheless, European operators are supporting local innovation: Half of the cloud services they launched in 2011 relied on European cloud technology vendors.
Informa’ research highlights fundamental differences among the 127 operators worldwide currently selling cloud services. European operators are focusing on launching services at home, while North American operators are acquiring client bases and assets at home and abroad. Asian operators are pursuing a blended strategy of infrastructure investment and service launch nationally and internationally. Meanwhile, Latin American, Middle Eastern and African operators are building up domestic infrastructure and competences.
In 2011, the top five telecom cloud investors were AT&T, Centurylink, NTT, Telstra, Verizon and Windstream. Leading European operators investing in the cloud were Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Portugal Telecom and Telefonica.
· Globally, telecom operators launched a cloud service every other day in 2011, totalling 170 new services.
· In 2011, 127 telecom operators were active in cloud services, compared to only 80 in 2010.
· Five service clusters accounted for 70% of service launches: infrastructure as a service, storage, unified communications, business productivity applications, and security.
This analysis is derived from Informa’s Telecom Cloud Monitor, an analytical tool tracking the cloud-related activities of more than 120 operators worldwide. Activities tracked include acquisitions, investments, customer wins, service launches, service trials and partnerships with more than 250 cloud-related equipment, software and services vendors, with a historical archive beginning in 2005. For more information on Informa’s Telecom Cloud Monitor, please visit http://www.informatandm.com/cloud-monitor/.
About Informa Telecoms & Media
Informa Telecoms & Media (www.informatm.com) is the leading provider of business intelligence and strategic services to the global telecoms and media markets.
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Email: denise.duffy@informa.com
