Report by the Study Group on Cloud Computing and Japan’s Competitiveness
- METI supports cloud computing!! -

1. Background of study

METI has convened the Study Group on Cloud Computing and Japan’ Competitiveness four times since July 2009. At the Study Group, experts from industry and academia held discussions with the aim of identifying issues that the government, users and providers (data centers, IT vendors, etc.) should address to create a cloud computing environment that capitalizes on Japan’s strengths, such as technological superiority in IT, by analyzing global trends in cloud computing and summarizing challenges and key issues for the evolution and development of cloud computing.

2. Report outline

This report proposes the need for a three-pronged policy to promote cloud computing: (1) Building and improving cloud platforms through the sound development of the market for such applications; (2) Establishing systems to encourage the external storage and use of data and building a social consensus on the use of such; (3) Supporting the creation of innovations that would lead to the international expansion of cloud computing-based businesses.

(1) [Platform development] Building and improving cloud platforms

　To promote the citing of data centers in Japan, the government will help the formation of alliances of local governments, power companies, data center operators, IT companies and the like in multiple regions to allow the market to provide a wide variety of cloud computing services.

The government also aims to develop, ahead of other countries, standards for cloud computing, such as an energy efficiency metric to accurately measure the environmental performance of data centers (called Datacenter Performance Per Energy, or DPPE) and procedures and reliability metrics to improve the reliability of interworking between cloud computing systems.

(2) [Framework development] Establishing frameworks to encourage the external storage and use of data

The government will ease regulations that hinder the external storage of data and the outsourcing of services, establish data utilization and distribution rules that take account of privacy, especially anonymity and institute systems to allow the secondary use of literary works in forms such as digital textbooks.

(3) [Innovation creation] Supporting innovation creation

In areas where the real-time processing of large amounts of information would help create new services, the government will promote projects to construct and demonstrate world-leading business platforms and thereby allow cloud services to lead to the international expansion of Japanese businesses.

* What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is a form of IT service that allows a company to use a customer management system, an accounting system and other functions on an on-demand basis over the network, without the need to “own” various IT devices.

* What is the Japan OSS Promotion Forum?
The Forum was established as a private organization in 2004 for the purpose of developing approaches to challenges and promotion of the use of open source software (OSS) through “open-style” activities conducted across corporate boundaries from a free standpoint, and contributing to the overall development of industry.

(For reference) [Structure improvement] Enhanced efforts by the Japan OSS Promotion Forum
The Japan OSS Promotion Forum will launch a full scale effort to promote cloud computing by expanding the spectrum of activities in collaboration with METI and other related ministries.
http://ossforum.jp (in Japanese)

Release Date

August 16, 2010

Division in Charge

Information Services Industry Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau

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