CW+ Premium Content/Computer Weekly

Britain’s decision to exit the European Union (EU) is causing the cost of using US-based cloud services to rise for some UK businesses, 451 Research has confirmed. There is a propensity among US cloud firms – including Amazon Web Services and Google – to bill overseas users in US dollars before converting the price back to the customer’s local currency. As the value of the pound has fallen since 24 June 2016 – when the results of the EU Referendum were confirmed – UK cloud buyers are now reportedly paying more to use US-based cloud services than they were before the referendum. Speaking to Computer Weekly, Owen Rogers, research director of 451 Research’s Digital Economics Unit, said early market indicators suggest UK buyers are getting less compute power per pound than they were on 24 June 2016. “On the day of the referendum, £1 would have bought 18.5 hours of operating a US-based, medium-sized virtual machine, based on 451 Research’s Cloud Price Index averages. Today, that same pound will only buy you 16 hours,” he said. Not ...