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CISPE will work with vendors and customers to define a framework to easily identify cloud computing services conforming with the Data Act’s portability requirements.
Brussels, 23rd March 2023. Today CISPE announced a new initiative to help cloud infrastructure service providers declare and promote services that meet new data portability rules expected in the Data Act. The initiative will develop specifications that facilitate the identification and declaration of services that comply with the Data Act’s portability requirements. The ambition of this initiative is to drive the declaration of several hundred services by year-end that conform with the portability requirements to be included in the Data Act. As such, it will allow both customers and vendors to benefit from the Data Act’s objectives more effectively and faster.
The initiative will be driven by CISPE with the support of leading European CIO organisations to ensure the voices of both vendors and customers are fully represented. The goal is to swiftly develop the technical specifications and auditing tools needed to identify the first three hundred cloud services in 2023 that conform with the portability requirements in the Data Act. This work will draw upon the learnings and experience gained through CISPE, Cigref and Beltug’s foundational role in developing the SWIPO IaaS data portability Code.
The participants will also work closely with Gaia-X to ensure that service declarations support Gaia-X labelling schemes. Consequently, declared services can be seamlessly added to the Gaia-X federated cloud services catalogue and clearing house.
“We are very happy to support this initiative to help cloud customers across Europe to quickly benefit from greater awareness and better choice of data portable cloud services and applications. said Danielle Jacobs, CEO of Beltug, the Belgian Association of CIOs and Digital Technology Leaders. “This fully in line with the fair principle from Cigref, Voice, CIO Platform and Beltug: vendors shall not create any technical or commercial lock-in”.
Ralf Resch, President of Euritas, representing CIOs of government agencies across Europe, said; “Standardisation efforts to prevent lock-in and deliver portability will help public sector IT providers embrace cloud technology. Euritas is calling for this standardization for the public administration sector and welcomes any initiative to support the open use of cloud services. As this is not only a technical issue, so we are also working on a framework that ensures the legal and organisational aspects of cloud solutions’ interoperability.”
Francisco Mingorance, CISPE Secretary General, commented; “It is part of CISPE’s DNA to create tools and guides that help its members quickly and confidently align their offering with existing regulation to better serve their customers. This new initiative has the same ambition – to rapidly accelerate the number and variety of services available for data portability.”
“Our federated services catalogue will transform how cloud services are specified, procured and deployed -and labelling is a fundamental aspect of its operation,” said Francesco Buonfiglio, CEO, Gaia-X. “Providing a straightforward way to declare portability credentials and increasing significantly the number of portable cloud services in Europe, consistent with the Data Act, will help streamline the population of labelled services in the catalogue.”
Work has already begun and organisations that wish to contribute in alignment with the goals of this initiative can register here (https://cispe.cloud/portability) or contact the project co-leads at portability@cispe.cloud.