Cloudwatt was a core initiative of Project Andromède, one of
France's periodic attempts at building a local computer industry. Project Andromède was announced in 2009 as a governmental desire for French-controlled
cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over m ...
, with the goal of spending €285 million (US $338 million) in "''cloud souverain''" ("sovereign cloud" in
English).
Overview
The launch of Cloudwatt was a part of the Andromède project initiated in 2009 to promote France in the cloud computing market.
Cloudwatt was established on September 6, 2012 as a subsidiary of
Orange S.A., with the
government of France
The Government of France (French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...
and French military contractor
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard ...
as secondary shareholders. Patrick Starck became the CEO of the company.
On October 2, 2012,
Fleur Pellerin, Minister responsible for SMEs, Innovation and the
Digital Economy
The digital economy is a portmanteau of digital computing and economy, and is an umbrella term that describes how traditional brick-and-mortar economic activities (production, distribution, trade) are being transformed by Internet, World Wide Web, ...
, participated in the Cloudwatt press conference. It specified the government's commitment to cloud computing.
In 2013, Cloudwatt chose
US-based
Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and markets networking products, including routers, switches, network management software, network security products, ...
as a supplier to ensure French
data sovereignty. Commercial sales began in 2014, and were expected to reach €500 million per year. The company developed a
Dropbox
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2 ...
-like storage service targeting small businesses and organizations, which was advertised on TV in 2013.
On March 20, 2015, Orange bought the company out the other investors. On January 1, 2016, Cloudwatt merged with
Orange Business Services
Orange Business Services, the business services arm of Orange S.A., is a global integrator of communications products and services for multinational corporations.
Orange Business Services offers integrated communications products and service ...
through its subsidiary Orange Cloud for Business.
Despite government subsidies of €75 million, after two years, the project had revenues of just €6 million. At the end of July 2019, the platform announced to its customers the cessation of its activity, scheduled for January 31, 2020. The users were advised to switch to the Flexible Engine public cloud platform. On February 1, 2020, all services were terminated and clients were advised that their data was deleted.
Assets
Cloudwatt had a capital of 225 million euros with the distribution of funds as follows: 44.4% for Orange, 22.2% for
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard ...
, 33.3% for
Caisse des Dépôts.
On January 13, 2015, Orange and its subsidiary Orange cloud for business announced the intention to buy back all of Cloudwatt.
Since March 2015, Orange held 100% of the capital of Cloudwatt.
See also
*
Dirigisme
Dirigisme or dirigism () is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive (policies) role contrary to a merely regulatory interventionist role over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite of ''lai ...
*
Plan Calcul
Plan Calcul was a French governmental program to promote a national or European computer industry and associated research and education activities.
The plan was approved in July 1966 by President Charles de Gaulle, in the aftermath of two key ev ...
*
Minitel
The Minitel was a videotex online service accessible through telephone lines, and was the world's most successful online service prior to the World Wide Web. It was invented in Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes in Brittany, France.
The service ...
*
Quaero
External links Official website
References
French companies established in 2012
French companies disestablished in 2020
Defunct software companies of France
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