And now for the good news.
Despite dire predictions of revenue losses in the wake of a leaked U.S. spy agency’s electronic surveillance program three years ago, U.S. cloud providers have instead “out innovated” local competitors to keep a firm grip on the European market, a market watcher says.
U.S. cloud providers were widely expected to be hurt by local business and regulatory efforts to safeguard European data following the 2013 release of documents linking U.S. tech firms to National Security Agency surveillance programs.
The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, an industry think tank, said at the time that “U.S. cloud service providers stand to lose somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of the foreign market in the next few years,” in an August 2013 report about the impact of the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Its low-end estimate for losses by U.S. cloud providers was $21.5 billion over the next three years, as European and Asian competitors took advantage of stricter data privacy and protection rules in local markets. Its high-end estimate for losses was $35 billion.
More of the Wall Street Journal article from Angus Loten
