A group of the leading cloud computing providers, including Google, have come together to form the Open Cloud Coalition, with a mission of fostering a competitive, transparent and resilient cloud market across the UK and European Union.
Initially made up of 10 members, including Centerprise International, Civo, Gigas and Google Cloud, the group plans to “champion openness, interoperability, and fair competition.”
According to OCC spokesperson and Civo director Nicky Stewart, the Coalition aims to counter the “restrictive agreements” that make it challenging for customers to adopt multicloud and hybrid setups, noting the OCC is, "determined to reverse this trend by promoting a more competitive and flexible market and driving the adoption of open standards.”
Open Cloud Coalition to tackle Europe’s challenging cloud landscape
The OCC’s launch comes as cloud providers across Europe, and other regions globally, come under more scrutiny from antitrust regulators like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission over anti-competitive practices.
It follows Microsoft’s recent settlement with the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), which included licensing concessions and a $22 million payment to address complaints.
Speaking about the formation of the group, Stewart added: “A dedicated platform campaigning on these issues is needed to advocate for fairness, openness, and interoperability, ensuring that regulations and industry practices support these principles.”
In response to the OCC’s launch, Microsoft CVP and Deputy General Counsel Rima Alaily wrote: “This week an astroturf group organized by Google is launching. It is designed to discredit Microsoft with competition authorities, and policymakers and mislead the public.”
Alaily added: “Google has gone through great lengths to obfuscate its involvement, funding, and control, most notably by recruiting a handful of European cloud providers, to serve as the public face of the new organization.”
Google Cloud told TechRadar Pro: “We’ve been very public about our concerns with Microsoft’s cloud licensing. We and many others believe that Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices lock-in customers and create negative downstream effects that impact cybersecurity, innovation, and choice. You can read more in our many blog posts on these issues.”
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