The recent kerfuffle surrounding the new Star-backed Cloud Alliance (CA) and the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) appears to have died down after the two groups agreed on a set of common themes "both parties agree on and seek collaboration in order to help drive improved standards."

As part of the agreement Star has joined the CIF.

Last week the CIF criticised the newly formed CA, saying that it is a misleading commercial enterprise, not to be trusted until it adopts its own independent and certified code of practice.

"Apparently a rigorous process was implemented (by Star themselves we assume) to whittle down literally ‘thousands’ of would-be cloud providers and enablers into a list of just 15-17 businesses that can meet the needs of the UK SMB market according to Star’s business development person," said CIF chairman Andy Burton at the time.

"Unsurprisingly, the only firms making the cut were firms that don’t compete with Star, and many of who they have historically worked with on opportunities," he added.

It’s all peace and love now though. Burton and Ricky Hudson, Star CEO, have agreed to recognise that both organisations have different goals.

"CIF is a not-for-profit industry body whose aim is to advocate the widespread adoption of cloud and hosted services for organisations by demonstrating best practice as an industry. By contrast, the UK Cloud Alliance is a commercial initiative from a hand- picked and pre-vetted consortia of service providers, dedicated to the delivery of end-to-end cloud services for medium sized UK businesses," a statement read.

The three themes both parties have agreed on are:

  • The basic principles of having a single contract and Service Level Agreement (SLA) for customers buying a total solution
  • The need in the market for customers to receive guarantees on data location relating to data sovereignty
  • The fact that cloud delivery is causing changes to the IT supply chain – an issue at the heart of both organisations philosophies.

"The UK Cloud Alliance cannot be viewed as a possible alternative to the CIF, whose role is to set professional standards, unify industry practices, demystify the cloud and validate performance claims" said Hudson. "This work can only benefit customers and providers alike and those aims and intentions are fully endorsed by Star, hence our decision to sign up as a member."

"Both CIF and the UK Cloud Alliance have a very different perspective and intention which is complementary. CIF Members are passionate about the principles of Transparency to help customers to make informed decisions and we look to Star to instil this philosophy into the UK Cloud Alliance and their members. We are delighted to welcome Star as a Member of the Cloud Industry Forum," added Burton.