Agree there is likely to be a problem with small regional ecosystems. Protectionism is nothing new! But if we take the Internet as a global infrastructure as a service model (we don’t own it but we pay for connection/use) then presumably market forces will predominate.

There is nothing enshrined in cloud that says that the client is required to … Read Morebe cost efficient – that is an eco- political decision. However, if you take the Amazon AWS model – with costs of implementation a quantum lower than owning your own infrastructure – ultimately in a global economy regions that act in a protectionist fashion are playing a short game. However, nor so easy to convince local SMEs who may see Cloud as a threat not an opportunity.Or their politicians and/or officials.

I would really welcome a discussion on Government Cloud next time you are in London.