European cloud group invests to create what it dubs “Trump-proof cloud services”

A major European cloud provider organization has committed additional funding to drive a push towards what it calls “sovereign, Trump-proof cloud services.”

“Many cloud customers, including European public administrations, are concerned that foreign governments have too much power to demand data, impose tariffs and restrict services on the cloud infrastructures they use,” said the statement from CISPE (Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe). “Customers need options to select Trump-Proof cloud services that rely on 100% European cloud infrastructure and services and are immune from disruption, access, and potential removal by foreign actors.”

Ben Maynard, CISPE’s director of communications, said the goal of the group’s financial commitment of €1 million (about $1.1 million) for open-source software development is to accelerate the Fulcrum Project, an open-source digital exchange enabling European service providers to federate distributed cloud services to match the scale, reach, and capabilities of hyperscale cloud providers. It is not necessarily to encourage all European enterprises to abandon their US hyperscaler relationships, but is more geared, he said, to SMBs and smaller enterprises who want more local options.