Hacker News: Towards a true multi-cloud offering to deliver on broken promises

Source URL: https://www.scaleway.com/en/blog/full-steam-ahead-towards-a-true-multi-cloud-offering-to-deliver-on-broken-promises/
Source: Hacker News
Title: Towards a true multi-cloud offering to deliver on broken promises

Feedly Summary: Comments

AI Summary and Description: Yes

Summary: The text discusses Scaleway’s decision to withdraw its membership from GAIA-X due to concerns over governance, representation, and the risk of non-European companies dominating European cloud standards. It underscores the need for genuine data sovereignty and a balanced playing field in the cloud sector, emphasizing Scaleway’s commitment to developing a multi-cloud ecosystem that aligns with European values and priorities.

Detailed Description: The announcement from Scaleway addresses the company’s nuanced perspective on the GAIA-X initiative, highlighting key challenges it faced and its rationale for exiting. Scaleway initially supported GAIA-X’s goals of data sovereignty, interoperability, and transparency but became disillusioned with the progress and governance issues over time.

* Key Points:
– **Initial Support for GAIA-X**: Scaleway was one of the founding members and actively contributed to establishing the initiative with notable investments in resources and personnel.
– **Governance Concerns**: The involvement of non-European players raised alarm bells about maintaining European digital sovereignty. Scaleway warned against these entities influencing governance and creating biased standards that favored major non-European tech firms.
– **Market Dynamics**: A decline in the market share of European cloud providers from 27% to below 16% underscores a concerning trend favoring Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, necessitating regulatory frameworks like the Digital Markets Act.
– **Struggles with Representation**: The current board’s composition lacks representation from local cloud service providers and SMEs, leading to potential misalignment with the European digital ecosystem’s needs.
– **Call for Action**: Scaleway emphasizes the need for concrete actions and legislation to combat vendor lock-in and enhance data portability. It urges stronger solutions than voluntary codes of conduct.
– **Future Directions**: Despite withdrawing from GAIA-X, Scaleway will focus on delivering its multi-cloud offerings and innovative products that meet market demands, positioning itself as a representative of Europe’s values in cloud technology.

The analysis has significant implications for professionals in cloud computing and digital policy, highlighting the importance of nurturing a competitive European cloud environment, advocating for robust governance frameworks, and maintaining a strategic focus on data sovereignty and interoperability.