Technology and market research corporation Forrester Research Inc said concerns regarding the Prism spy project of the US National Security Agency could cost USD180 million worth of business for US companies in the IT service market. Providers of cloud, hosting and outsourcing softwares would suffer the most as the program has been implemented.
The expose made by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, revealed that the US government has been gathering data from US technology corporations. In Germany, state officials and local companies are already starting to question the security of information hosted by US-based firms.
Earlier this month, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) estimated that the sales of the cloud industry in the US would lose between USD21.5 billion and USD35 billion through 2016. However, Forrester analyst James Staten argued last Wednesday that financial losses would be greater when a few other segment of the market were considered. In addition to ITIF's USD35 billion projection, cloud vendors would also suffer USD100 billion in lost businesses. An additional USD35 billion would be lost from foreign customers and another USD10 billion in lost revenue from the clients in the US.
Join the Conversation