The figures were released by newly-established industry association The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), aimed at promoting trust within cloud computing. According to a forum spokesman, CIF has been set up to offer a business angle to the notion of cloud computing rather than a technical one. "There are plenty of organisations that look at the technical aspects of the cloud," he said. "But CIF is looking to be a business related forum, looking at how business will be conducted in the cloud - considering questions such as can customers trust their suppliers; where is the company located and where is the data held?"

The spokesman said although there were plenty of cloud standards around, but these had been drawn up by technologists and there wasn't a common set of standard for British businesses to relate to.

The chairman of the new group and Fasthosts CEO, Andy Burton said that the figure highlighted the importance of having both a standard frame of reference to define cloud services and a code of practice that aims to standardise and certify organisations offering those cloud computing services."

CIF is a British-only forum and is currently in the middle of drawing up a code of conduct, due to be completed in April or May. The spokesman could provide no information as to how many members CIF had but did say that there were no plans to expand internationally