On March 7th, the software alliance group BSA released a scorecard on the world’s top twenty-four countries for cloud hosting. These countries were selected for being the biggest players in the world’s Information Technology market, making up about 80% of the entire market. The 24 countries were graded on their individual commitment to promoting cloud technologies within their own countries and globally.

Among the criteria that contribute to a nation’s overall “cloud climate,” according to the BSA, are: its attitude toward user privacy, free-trade, cybercrime, cybersecurity, and broadband network.

Chris Hopfensperger, who is the technology policy counsel at the BSA, critiqued the progress made since the release of last year’s global cloud-computing scorecard, calling it “patchy” but stating that the BSA remains hopeful that soon enough the good laws will eventually outnumber the bad ones that inhibit the expansion of reliable cloud hosting technologies.

Japan Wins Big in the Cloud Arena

For the 2nd year in a row, Japan has scored the #1 spot, being called the friendliest atmosphere for cloud development and enhancement in the world. The honor is attributed to the country’s dedication to user security and privacy, as well as its unyielding stance against cybercrime. Japan also has a growing rate of broadband acceptance that contributed to its high score.

Coming in at 2nd and 3rd were Australia and the US, respectively, after the US pushed Germany down to 4th from last year. The decision-makers at the BSA owed this ranking change to the fact that US-based cloud providers have made consistent developments in strengthening their cloud computing technologies. At this time, the ranking switch is not owed to new and better policies made by the government.

And the top 5 countries for cloud computing are…

1. Japan
2. Australia
3. United States
4. Germany
5. Singapore

Germany’s drop to 4th is blamed on “potentially restrictive privacy laws, protectionist policies,” while Singapore leapt up five slots thanks in part to the release of a recent data privacy law that took effect since the previous scorecard was released in 2012.

The Not-So-Heavy Hitters

The 5 worst countries for cloud hosting providers are:

1. South Africa

2. Indonesia

3. Brazil

4. Thailand

5. Vietnam

The countries that tallied the lowest marks demonstrated a marked lack of anti-cybercrime policies, little to no participation or interest in global standardization of free cloud practices, nonexistent or insufficient free-trade legislation, and incomplete protocols for user and data security and privacy.

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