Here’s the real game at stake on the cloud in Europe
The speech by Michele Zunino, president of the Italia Cloud Consortium
Dear Director,
I read the article Cloud with interest, is the government marrying pro-France theses in Europe? and I thank you for the space you will devote to deepening a subject that seems intended for technicians, while instead it should be of wider interest. To be able to make the debate clearer, we must avoid using technicalities reserved for "insiders".
Let's start from one point.
We have spent 20 years getting Europeans to understand that personal data matters. Suffice it to say that the GDPR is only 5 years old and there is still a long way to go. The challenge posed today by the strict geopolitical topicality is no longer the confidentiality of data, or their treatment. The new playing field has embraced critical and strategic data, i.e. those whose violation can result in serious social impacts or risks for the security of the Member States. We cannot transfer this data to foreign governments or allow it to be processed outside our jurisdiction. And it's not so much and just a question of digital sovereignty, but rather of industrial policy choices in defense of an entire system. Moreover, in the absence of a legal definition, in fact everyone has developed their own interpretation of the very concept of digital sovereignty, causing the debate to lose incisiveness.
The Italia Cloud Consortium was born with the idea of representing to the institutions that the national cloud could (and, in large part, had to) be managed by Italian companies active in the sector. And we are committed to the point that many companies have acquired or are acquiring all the security qualifications required by our Authority. Now, it is clear that there are multiple voices in the European debate. Some countries have preceded us because they have been attentive to cybersecurity issues for years. Others, on the other hand, have taken the matter to the limit where it was no longer possible to continue to underestimate it.
Surely France remains a leading country in many choices related to the cloud and security. The moment in which Italy also took note of the need to establish an Authority, classify data and qualify services was only two years ago. As Consorzio Italia Cloud – ever since – we have urged the institutions to take the right path, the uphill one, not based almost exclusively on the large global platforms.
With a public consultation, it would have been possible to highlight the Italian cloud computing companies which are highly valuable competence centers in the area. Perhaps it was the contingencies of the PNRR that led to a not entirely satisfactory choice, which today brings us back – once again – to confronting the large global cloud operators, the very same ones who with their service platforms play an advantage under every point of view.
But EUCS represents the second best opportunity to bring the playing field back to a level field, which is why we do not see the progress of the talks in Luxembourg, at the Council of TLCs, in a negative way. The acronym EUCS refers to a scheme for a security certification of cloud services – still in draft and on a voluntary basis – which may become necessary in some cases. It has been under study in ENISA – the European body in charge of cybersecurity – for some years now. We are in the final stages with a dominant French position that requires certain requirements to be able to offer cloud services on strategic data. For example, European headquarters, certifications, local employees and more are required. Obviously this thing does not go well with GAFAM and neither with Germany and Ireland which instead – as a counterpart – are able to sell their services in the USA without problems. Apparently, at the last EU summit of TLC ministers there was talk not only of fair share – another issue dear to Breton – but evidently an agreement was also sought on EUCS.
We therefore do not believe it is a scandal that Italy has supported the French position or that to do so it has delegated an ambassador, who is moreover very famous and respectable for his enormous wealth of expertise.
The article you published on Startmag and which stimulated our response, doesn't actually say how the game ended. We think that even with the Italian vote, the "French-style" EUCS proposal will remain in the minority. Needless to say, EUCS is not enough for a national cloud without GAFAM, but the French version certainly has more solid foundations for returning to our national interest.
Which is what the Italian cloud computing industry develops and our skills in the field of cybersecurity grow. After all, the funds of the PNRR should be used for just that. We do not believe, as the article claims, that EUCS can undermine the National Strategic Pole, which is well established and has resisted the recent ruling by the TAR.
Instead, we are convinced that there is still room for local operators to qualify and offer their services to the PA, also by taking advantage of the resources of the post-pandemic plan. Because if there isn't an obligation to migrate to the Cloud of the PA established with the public-private partnership, to date most of the funds seem to be destined for that. We believe that more can be done to make Italian SMEs grow in the cloud and this message must reach the institutions, finance and entrepreneurs themselves. The next European startup that is engulfed by a hyperscaler because it started with a free service bonus and got stuck on that non-European platform is an economic impoverishment but first of all of skills. The next "region" that gives a foreign cloud its nationality is land consumption, energy absorption, investment duplication, inefficiency.
We have 190 datacenters, we will reach 250 shortly. We must avoid building cathedrals in the desert. Italy must play a role on platforms and services. Give those who have qualified the right chance to compete with the large American providers. Only by making this leap will we be in a position to compete, to safeguard our know-how, to grow our industries and to secure the most precious data of our public administration.
Michael Zunino
President of the Italy Cloud Consortium
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/italia-cloud-replica-michele-zunino/ on Thu, 08 Jun 2023 05:28:13 +0000.