The European Commission is set to allocate €10m to forming the European Cloud Partnership, a group made up of governments and industry, to define a set of standards for Cloud procurement, Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda Commissioner) said in a speech on Thursday.

"The partnership will... look at standards; it will look at security; it will look at ensuring competition, not lock-in," said Kroes. She also indicated that joint procurement of cloud services by European public bodies and "pooling of resources" is the eventual aim of the partnership.

The European Cloud Partnership is part of a bigger cloud computing strategy being formulated by the commission, the details of which will be presented later in 2012.

Talks have already begun with potential partners for the Cloud Group. A report was submitted in November by a group of technology organisations including Accenture, Amazon, IBM, Logica, Microsoft and HP, addressing the forthcoming cloud computing strategy.

Joint procurement could benefit technology companies and purchasers, HP's European head of innovation and sustainable computing Ian Brooks told ZDNet UK on Thursday. "It's clear from Neelie's speech today, [that] the region understands how cloud computing could transform business across Europe, helping stimulate innovation, driving higher levels of efficiency, forging new collaborations and creating new jobs," said Brooks. "Providing clarity of approach, common standards and EU support for the programme will accelerate adoption and provide benefits to consumers, companies and service providers alike."

For the full article follow this link: Commission pledges €10m to cloud partnership