US Cloud Providers Cite Obstacles to Growth Abroad

Industry representatives warned the Judiciary Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Subcommittee that barriers being imposed by foreign governments could stifle the growth of U.S. cloud computing providers.

U.S. companies including Amazon and Google are moving aggressively to offer cloud services around the world, which involves the use of hosted services via the Internet. But they worry that new policies imposed by some foreign governments could hamper the ability of U.S providers to market their services abroad. Cloud computing has been touted as a way to provide its users with access to more computer power at lower costs by relying on a third-party to buy and operate expensive computer networks. "Countries around the world desperately hope to copy the model of technology-driven economic growth that powers the US economy," said Business Software Alliance President and CEO Robert Holleyman in his written testimony. "Far too often they would do so by throwing up protectionist barriers aimed to hurt international cloud providers and by adopting policies that would chop the cloud into country-sized pieces." "Strong U.S. leadership is needed to combat trade practices that other countries are using to block foreign competitors," Daniel Castro, a senior analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said.