LSE: Cloud computing to fuel economic growth

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Cloud computing is not just the future for IT but the power house that will drive a host of new jobs.

So claims research by the London School of Economics (LSE), which looked at the projected impact of cloud computing on the aerospace and smartphone industries.

The LSE report 'Modelling the Cloud' states that investment in cloud computing has a direct and an indirect effect on job creation in both industries, firstly through the construction and staffing of the datacentres required for hosting the cloud services and, secondly, by freeing IT staff and other skilled employees to concentrate on other areas of work.

Perhaps even more importantly in these uncertain times, the LSE research also shows that an investment in cloud computing will not lead to any rise in unemployment as companies will be looking to hire new staff and, contrary to widespread belief, be looking to move and re-train existing employees.

However, the nature of the business also has an effect: the web-focused smartphone industry is expected to show a far higher growth rate than the aerospace business. The study predicts that between 2010 and 2014, the number of cloud-related jobs in the UK smartphone sector will be 349 per cent – this compares with just 55 per cent growth in the aerospace market.

The report’s authors, Jonathan Liebenau, Patrik Karrberg, Alexander Grous and Daniel Castro, write that the arrival of cloud services will be a useful driver for European growth. This will most likely be music to the ears of EU commissioner Neelie Kroes who has stressed the importance of cloud computing to the European economy.

To harness this, authors believe that policy makers should follow three guidelines.

1)The provision of improved education and re-training in ‘'eSkills'

2)Provision of incentives for companies to adopt green energy practices that can attract investment in the cloud, particularly in the siting of datacentres.

3)Ensuring data transfer policies, such as privacy rights protection, do not impede the development of cloud services.

The study, which was commissioned by Microsoft, focused on the UK, US, Germany and Italy.

For further coverage of cloud computing visit our sister site Cloud Pro.

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