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 "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...
, 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.
Orange S.A. (; formerly , stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris.
''Orange'' has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, ...
, with the
government of France
The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
and French military contractor
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...
as secondary shareholders. Patrick Starck became the CEO of the company.
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 Router (computing), routers, Network switch, switches, network management so ...
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, that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropbox w ...
-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 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 ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...
, 33.3% for
Caisse des Dépôts
Caisse, a French word, may refer to:
* Caisse Desjardins, an association of credit unions in Quebec
* Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, a road-bicycle racing team
* Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a public pension fund in Quebec
* Caisse ...
.
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 or non-interventionist role, over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite ...
*
Plan Calcul
Plan Calcul was a French governmental program to promote a national or European computer industry and associated research and education activities.
History
The plan was approved in July 1966 by President Charles de Gaulle, in the aftermath of two ...
*
Minitel
The Minitel, officially known as TELETEL, was an interactive videotex online service accessible through telephone lines. It was the world's first and most successful mass-market online service prior to the World Wide Web. It was developed in Ces ...
*
Quaero
Quaero (Latin for ''I seek'') was a European initiative designed to compete with the Google search engine. It was announced in 2005 by Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder, the political leaders of France and of Germany. As a research and develo ...
References
External links
Official websiteFacebookXInstagram
French companies established in 2012
French companies disestablished in 2020
Defunct software companies of France
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