AWS, Capgemini, More Make Significant Europe-Centric Cloud Deals

There’s a lot happening in the world of cloud computing — and not just in the United States. From Amazon Web Services to Capgemini, here’s a short roundup of the latest cloud news from Europe of interest to the channel.

AWS Lands Expanded UK Home Office Contract

Amazon Web Services may have lost out on the U.S. Department of Defense’s $10 billion cloud computing contract, but the situation is quite different in the U.K.

The U.K. Home Office – essentially the equivalent of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – has extended its contract with the world’s largest public cloud provider, by revenue, through Dec. 11, 2023. The deal is worth £100 million.

AWS has served a number of U.K. public-sector agencies since 2013, the year the U.K. government started implementing its cloud-first strategy. Four other high-profile departments, including the Ministry of Justice and the National Health Service, use AWS.

The Home Office said that agencies using AWS are saving up to 60% in costs.

Capgemini Gets Big Health Services Deal

Global tech consultancy Capgemini, headquartered in Paris, has landed a three-year deal with the largest hospital provider in London to upgrade its technology to cloud.

Capgemini’s Matt Howell

Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs five hospitals in central and east London, wants to modernize its whole IT approach to better serve patients and employees.

“The Trust will benefit from a more secure, scalable and agile operating environment that is more cost effective than current legacy IT infrastructure,” Matt Howell, head of public sector at Capgemini in the U.K., told CloudPro.

Lufthansa, Google Cloud Team

Germany-based Lufthansa is teaming with Google Cloud to streamline its many IT systems and data into one platform. The aviation giant further intends to use Google Cloud to minimize the impact of flight delays.

“By combining Google Cloud’s technology with Lufthansa Group’s operational expertise, we are driving the digitization of our operation even further,” said Detlef Kayser, a Lufthansa Group executive board member in a Jan. 20 press release. “This will enable us to identify possible flight irregularities even earlier and implement countermeasures at an early stage.”

The new platform will account for operational factors including aircraft rotation and maintenance, and crew assignment. It also will provide recommendations for improving passenger punctuality, on-time flights and flight plan adherence in case of bad weather or airspace congestion, Google and Lufthansa said.

The partnership stands to help improve the entire airline industry, said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.

“Through this collaboration, we have a significant opportunity to revolutionize the future of airline operations,” he said.

UpCloud Snares Funding for Growth

Finland’s UpCloud, a hosting provider, has raised €18 million in equity and debt funding to support its growth.

UpCloud’s Antti Vilpponem

Over the next 24 months, the company plans to recruit more than 100 employees, launch more than 10 data centres across Europe, Asia and North America, and target markets including Australia.

“We will be looking to double our team size in just this year,” Antti Vilpponen, UpCloud CEO, said. “This is a great time to further speed up our growth.”

UpCloud also will use the money for product development.

Connected Capital & Partners, a Netherlands-based business-to-business software growth investor, led the investment round. However, the activity included participation from Finnish Industry Investment, a Finnish state-owned investment company as well as Inventure, a Finnish venture capital company that also invested in UpCloud in 2016.

UpCloud was founded in 2011. Based in Helsinki, the company so far has eight data centres in cities including Amsterdam, Chicago, London and Singapore. UpCloud, which runs a partner program, targets small and midsize firms.