Security concerns still stalling European cloud uptake

Another day and yet another survey has labelled security as the single-biggest risk to cloud computing.

The latest study on business attitudes to cloud computing in Europe, conducted by AMD, showed 59 percent of businesses concerned about security in the cloud. On the other hand, of all the businesses considering a switch to the cloud, 42 percent said they were attracted by the saving it would make to their IT costs.

The survey found 32 percent of companies were still concerned about the reliability of their internet connection, and that was hampering their uptake of the cloud.

Of existing European cloud users, 37 percent said they already stored more than $250,000 worth of data in the cloud.

In contrast to the European figures, 54 percent of Asia/Pacific businesses see increased efficiency as a bigger driver than IT cost savings.

According to AMD, this is a reflection of different priorities in geographical regions. "The rise of cloud computing is fundamentally shifting demands on the IT department, but different regions of the world are facing very different cloud challenges," said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager, Server and Embedded divisions, AMD. 

Security often comes out as the main concern of cloud users. Just last month, a survey from IDC highlighted that it was a major worry and the Cloud Security Alliance has been set up to try to deal with some of these issues.