France's Cloud computing market set to exceed €2bn

Written by Colin Gillman | 07 February 2012

The recent boom in data transmission and storage capacity has given rise to an increase in Cloud computing in France — a sector that has been given the backing of the government's National Investment Program. This market looked set to surpass the €2 billion mark for France in 2011, and may make up more than 6% of the French software and IT-services industry in 2012.

"France is a growth market for high-tech and innovative companies, particularly in the Cloud-computing sector, where the leading players are already in France, doing business," says David Appia, Chairman & CEO of the Invest in France Agency (IFA).

Current revenues from the global market for Cloud-computing services totalled US$68.3 billion while, in Europe, the Cloud computing market surged 20% and is predicted to account for almost 15% of the European software and IT-services market by 2015.

The French market, which continues to grow strongly, was worth €1.85 billion in 2010, €672 million of which was generated by SMEs. This market, when finally calculated, is set to exceed €2 billion for 2011 and may account for more than 6% of the French software and IT-services market by the end of 2012.

The recent success in Cloud computing has stemmed from the increase in data transmission and storage-capacity usage. Calculations and data are scattered in a universe that is no longer directly accessible to clients who, instead, buy processing capacity in the same way that one might buy electricity.

Three levels of offerings are available with respect to Cloud-computing services:  a client may go for an externally hosted IT infrastructure, i.e. Infrastructure as a Service (or IaaS); for ready-to-use environments, i.e. Platform as a Service (or PaaS); or, finally, for standardised shared applications sold as services, i.e. Software as a Service (or SaaS).

In 2011, the French Government issued an initial call for projects dedicated to R&D in Cloud computing, as part of its National Investment Program. The Association Française des Editeurs de Logiciels (or AFDEL, i.e. the French Federation of Software Publishers) set up a website to simplify the procedure for project promoters, when submitting projects for funding within the National Investment Program.

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