Luxembourg, June 28, 2010 — EuroCloud, the European organisation for cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS), has concluded its first pan-European member Congress in Luxembourg with agreement on a 16-point action plan to help European businesses benefit from cloud computing.

Attendees at the inaugural EuroCloud Congress welcomed Luxembourg’s Minister of Communications and Media, Mr François Biltgen, who in a keynote speech emphasized the importance of cloud computing for business and the economy. “The success of cloud computing, besides resolving the last security and privacy issues, also depends on how fast it will be adopted by users,” he told attendees. “Trust is an essential factor in this regard.”

Attendees also heard from Dr Carl-Christian Buhr from the Cabinet of Vice-President Neelie Kroes at the European Commission. Dr Buhr spoke about the Digital Agenda and called on EuroCloud members to contribute their views and insight as the Commission formulates a European strategy for cloud computing.

Announcing the formation this month of new local EuroCloud organisations in Greece, Switzerland and Ukraine, making a total of 22 countries where EuroCloud is present today, founder and President, Pierre-José Billotte, told attendees, “Customers are sending us a signal, ‘please make technology as easy as possible’ – rethink the IT model in offering immediate availability, anywhere, anytime, and at a predictable cost. That’s what the cloud represents … The opportunity is incredibly huge: to imagine, create and build a new worldwide industry.”

Action plan

A series of participative workshops throughout the day drew up the elements of the EuroCloud action plan, which specifies the next steps to create trust and success in cloud computing in Europe by activities such as:

• promoting best practice by highlighting cloud success stories and working with others in the industry to establish pragmatic standards;
• facilitating cloud as a vehicle for IT-enabling SMBs and SMEs in the European marketplace, and fostering the development of new skills needed to take full advantage the opportunities afforded by cloud computing;
• working with authorities to ensure the best possible legal and institutional framework to protect and provide maximum value to business users of cloud computing; for example, by clarifying the legal framework for cross-border data flows in a cloud computing environment;
• Continuing to develop EuroCloud’s role as a community for collaboration and networking among industry players to bring the best possible cloud solutions to market in Europe and beyond.

“Today’s event has really shown the need for an organisation like EuroCloud to step in and promote the vision of a European cloud computing market,” added Billotte. “EuroCloud has shown its ability to bring people together and make things happen.”

Workshops were moderated by EuroCloud board members and included contributions from selected subject matter experts. Contributors included speakers from the University of Luxembourg, Carnegie Mellon Portugal and a cross-section of industry participants including Microsoft, Salesforce.com, RightNow Technologies, Mimecast, RunMyProcess and Sensible Cloud.

EuroCloud chose to launch its first Congress in Luxembourg to demonstrate its mission at the heart of Europe. The local EuroCloud Luxembourg group hosted the event with the support of Luxembourg for Business, Luxembourg for ICT and the government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

A document summarising the Congress proceedings and detailing the components of the 16-point action plan is now being drafted and will be released next month. EuroCloud will present its findings to the European Commission and Vice-President Kroes later in the year.

About EuroCloud

EuroCloud (http://www.eurocloud.org/) is the first pan-European network of SaaS and cloud computing vendors and industry participants, with a presence today in more than 22 European countries.  Through its diverse membership of vendors, integrators, supporting parties and industry experts, EuroCloud will promote cloud computing in Europe, sharing best practices, encouraging innovation and extending business within Europe and beyond. EuroCloud stands under the guidance of Pierre-José Billotte, president and founder of the former French ASP forum, now EuroCloud France.

For further information, please visit: http://www.eurocloud.org/

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EuroCloud

Further information:

Pierre-José Billotte, founder and President, EuroCloud

+ 33 6 22 02 29 06 pjbillotte@sourcia.com

Phil Wainewright, Vice-President, EuroCloud

+44 7967 110136 pw@pcxvs.com

Bernd Becker, Vice-President, EuroCloud

+49 151 5065 2319 bernd.becker@eurocloud.de

Anders Trolle-Shultz, President, EuroCloud Denmark

+45 2425 0303 ats@saas-it.net

Maurice van der Woude, General Secretary, EuroCloud

mvdwoude@personalconsult.nl

Amal Choury, President, EuroCloud Luxembourg

Amal.Choury@e-kenz.lu

23 juni zal Eurocloud Nederland het Tweede Eurocloud Nederland symposium organiseren. Geef u op via LinkedIn:

http://events.linkedin.com/Tweede-Eurocloud-Nederland-symposium/pub/333462

Programma

13:30 uur Ontvangst en registratie

14:00 uur Welkom en stand van zaken, Alexandra Schless

14:15 uur Plannen werkgroep Technologie

14:35 uur Plannen werkgroep Management

14:55 uur Plannen werkgroep PR en Educatie

15:15 uur Plannen werkgroep Recht

15:35 uur Visie op en gebruik van Cloud, door Martijn Verhoeven en Arjen Peddemors, Novay. Inclusief twee gebruikerscases

15:55 uur Pauze

16:10 uur Visie op Cloud, door Gregor Petri, Director Product Marketing CA Technologies

16:30 uur Checklist voor de Cloud, door Erik Roest, IT Manager HotelSpecials

16:50 uur Discussie en vragen, met panel van de werkgroepaanvoerders

17:00 uur Borrel

18:00 uur Afsluiting

Doorn – Landgoed Beukenrode – www.beukenrode.nl
Beukenrodelaan 2 
3941 ZP Doorn
Doorn, 3941 ZP NL

EuroCloud Europa nodigt u uit voor de historische eerste EuroCloud congres op 21 juni 2010 in Luxemburg-Kirchberg – 7, Rue Alcide de Gasperi.

Op dit unieke evenement wordt een dag volledig gewijd aan cloud computing in Europa en zal het de plaats bij uitstek zijn om business leaders, politieke besluitvormers en academici die zich bezighouden met cloud computing en software-as-a-service uit heel Europa te ontmoeten.

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Its mission is to examine specific opportunities and challenges surrounding the uptake of this immensely significant technology sector in Europe. Structured as a mix of open plenary and member-only workshop sessions, it aims to produce findings in specific areas for further investigation and action with relevant political and industry organisations.
This will be the first time that such a broad cross-section of the European industry in the vitally seminal sector of cloud computing has come together to focus on the role that political, industrial and economic policy can play in its successful growth and global impact. Attendees will benefit from valuable information exchange and networking with peers and subject matter experts from across Europe.

The first objective for the EuroCloud Congress 2010 will be to initiate a European White Paper intended to the European Union. Anders Trolle-Schultz will coordinate the production of this document and the associated workshops.
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EuroCloud leden betalen het gereduceerde tarief van € 100 euro. Voor inschrijving en meer informatie: http://eurocloudcongress.org/

Softletter houdt al enige jaren een onderzoek onder ISV’s (Softwarehuizen) dat vrijwel alle aspecten rondom SaaS en Cloud computing vanuit het leveranciers perspectief onderzoekt. Deelnemers krijgen kosteloos toegang tot de resultaten van het onderzoek. Dit jaar is het eerste jaar dat het onderzoek ook in Europa gehouden wordt. we bevelen dan ook hartelijk aan om mee te doen! Hieronder de originele uitnodiging om mee te doen. Meedoen kan hier

Dear Colleague:

Welcome to the 2010 edition of our EuroSaaS and Cloud Applications survey. This survey is modeled on our industry-leading US Software as a Service survey, which is in its fourth year and has become the standard by which SaaS technology providers track and measure key trends, developments and metrics in the SaaS and Cloud applications industry.

(A quick operational note. If you want to “go back” several pages to a previous point in the survey, we suggest using your browser’s drop down “Go back to a previous page” capability.)

Before you begin the survey, please note that many questions require you to provide an answer in order to proceed through the survey; you will not be able to simply fill out a few questions at the beginning of the survey, then fill out the address information at the end to receive the results. You will need to finish the survey. (You can begin the survey, then for up to one month finish it later or revise your answers if you wish.)

This survey is aimed at software developers/publishers in the European Union, as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey, who are currently selling SaaS products in the commercial software marketplace. If your company, division, or business unit is not deriving at least 80% of its revenue from sales of SaaS systems and services, please do not take this survey.

Testers from European SaaS firms have all stated that the exercise of taking the survey was very valuable and helped bring many of their business efforts and operations into clearer focus.

The Softletter EuroSaaS Survey covers the following:

- Revenue growth, international markets, and profitability
- Pricing models
- Functionality levels
- Key business metrics, including CAC, CMRR, resubscription, etc
- Product Architecture, Outsourcing, and R&D
- Platform Development Choices
- Infrastructure and Cloud Choices
- Billling and Monetization
- Privacy and Security (including the European Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC)
- SaaS Escrow and Fallover (Failover)
- SaaS Resellers and Channels
- Sales Models and Costs
- Marketing Overview and Marketing Costs
- SaaS Trial Access and Free (Freemium) programs
- Customer Support and Services
- Initial and Professional Services
- Community/Product Management and SaaS

We have made the decision to ask all revenue and monetary questions using the Euro as the currency measure. We understand that 11 EU countries do not currently use the Euro. However, by asking all companies to measure their financial performance in Euros, we can provide an “apples to apples” comparison of performance across all countries. If you need assistance in converting your national currency to Euros, the XE.com website provides a quick and free conversion system.

This is a big survey: based on your answers, you will fill out approximately 75 to 90 questions, but we’ve made them as simple and easy-to-follow as possible. We estimate that this survey will take from 20 to 30 minutes to complete. Again, please note that many questions require you to provide an answer in order to proceed through the survey; you will not be able to simply fill out a few questions at the beginning of the survey, then fill out the address information at the end to receive the results. You will need to finish the survey. (You can begin the survey, then for up to one month finish it later or revise your answers if you wish.)

Everyone who supplies data for this survey will receive a complimentary copy of the complete summary results in upcoming special issues of Softletter. Of course, all responses will be strictly confidential. We won’t disclose or identify data about any individuals or about participating companies. Rick Chapman, Softletter’s publisher and managing editor, will be presenting detailed analyses of the results in his presentations at SaaS University: Marketing, Sales, Infrastructure and Finance Conferences in 2010. More info at www.softletter.com.

Please be sure to provide a valid E-mail address when completing the survey as the summary results will be sent by E-mail via an electronic version of Softletter.

You may want to pass along information about the Softletter 2010 EuroSaaS Survey to a colleague in the industry who you feel should participate.

This survey closes in June, 2010.

Many thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

Merrill R. (Rick) Chapman
Softletter Managing Editor and Publisher
rickchapman@Softletter.com
1 860-663-0552

Dit wil EuroCloud

EuroCloud wil de ontwikkeling van SaaS- en Cloud-diensten in heel Europa bevorderen en de toepassing ervan stimuleren. EuroCloud moet het zakendoen, het aangaan van technologische relaties en kennisontwikkeling versnellen. EuroCloud zal de Cloud Industry in Europa vertegenwoordigen – rekening houdend met lokale verschillen – en bij uitstek het platform zijn voor de samenwerking met Amerika of Azië.