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Taiwan and Europe team up on cloud certification system

Taiwan's state-funded Institute for Information Industry (III) signed a contract Monday with EuroCloud Europe, which represents the European cloud industry, to introduce a globally applicable certification scheme to Taiwan's cloud sector.

The introduction of the scheme known as EuroCloud Star Audit (ECSA) will help establish "a sound and trustworthy environment" for developing the cloud computing sector in Taiwan and benefiting cloud users as a whole, the institute said in a statement.

The certification scheme goes beyond cloud security and data privacy protection by also emphasizing the importance of service operation management, the III said.

The ECSA was approved after a review by the European Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology, the European Union network and the Information Safety Bureau. It has become one of EU's officially approved cloud service third party certification schemes.

III president Wu Ruey-Beei said the ECSA scheme will enable the III to more effectively team up with Taiwanese cloud vendors and service providers and help them offer total cloud services with a quality level ensured by the global market.

T.J. Fang, vice president of the cloud computing application service development center at Taiwan-based Quanta Computer, said Quanta's own guarantee of secure and high-quality services carries even more weight if it is certified by a third party audit scheme such as ECSA.

The scheme will also push Quanta to continually improve, Fang said.

According to a report issued by the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) under the III, the cloud computing service industry will reach US$142.5 billion worldwide by 2016, thanks to the rapid development of the global cloud market.

While European, North American and Asian markets are making a push into cloud services, security and data privacy protection have become critical issues that need to be tackled, the MIC said.