Flexiant on cloud nine over EU test project

A "CLOUD computing" platform created by a Scottish software developer has been chosen as the test bed for a €7 million (£5.8m) European Union project.

Technology companies including BT, Atos Origin and SAP will use FlexiScale - which was developed by Livingston-based Flexiant - to test out software tools needed to run the next generation of cloud computing.

Cloud computing allows users to access their programs and documents via the internet, often on a pay-as-you-go basis, instead of buying software to run on individual computers.

Proponents claim that the system cuts the costs of computing by removing the need for servers on site and software licenses for hundreds of machines.

Flexiant chief executive Alex Bligh: "The evolution of cloud computing is moving at breakneck speed and we are delighted that our current cloud platform is being used to help develop the tools needed for a new generation of cloud platforms."

Flexiant said the three-year project was worth more than 250,000 to the company.

The EU's "Optimis" project - which brings together academic and industrial partners - is designed to overcome barriers of moving data between public "clouds", which are accessed via the internet, and "private" clouds run within individual firms.

Global sales of cloud computing services are forecast to reach $148.8 billion (97.7bn) by the end of 2014, up from $58.6bn in 2009, according to technology research company Gartner.