15 service providers unite to launch the UK Cloud Alliance, aiming to get businesses to buy cloud computing services from local partners on local infrastructure.
Leading the initiative is communications reseller Star, together with PlanB, Pythagoras, Concentra, Digirati, GlassHouse Technologies, Itica, Modern Networks, NewVoiceMedia, Nexus, Maindec, redstor, Total, Ubertas and LinuxIT.
Members have a code of conduct promising "transparency and guiding principles to guarantee the customer’s best interests", together with Service Level Agreements. Services Alliance members will offer include telephony, security hardware migration and virtualisation.
The Alliance says cloud computing is "very much in demand" by a growing number of UK SMBs.
Not everybody approves of the idea though-- the Cloud Industry Forum describes the Alliance as a "clearly non-independent commercial offering".