SFR, Bull form Numergy cloud venture

A new cloud computing company, Numergy, has been created by French operator SFR and IT group Bull in partnership with government investment firm Caisse des Depots.

Headed by formerly president of IT services group Capgemeni subsidiary Sogeti France Philippe Tavernier, the company aims to provide cloud-based services to governments, businesses innovative start-ups around France and Europe.

Based close to Paris, the new firm hopes to eventually support 400 employees and generate sales worth 400 euros ($503 million) in four years.

Numergy will begin operating by offering a virtual server solution focused on offering top-end security and confidentiality through data centers located in France. In the beginning, this will be targeted at governmental agencies and businesses, with start-ups soon to follow.

The cloud computing services provider wants to become "the first central Digital Energy in Europe," -- working to offer businesses the modern resources they require. Vannier said:

"The current situation encourages companies to adopt new patterns of operation. The [economic] crisis has rightly prompted the leaders to accelerate the creation of the company. We'll start with two "data centers". By 2020, we plan to build a quarantine, all located in France to ensure the [protection] of our customers' data."

Numergy starts with $225 million in capital through an investment of 47 percent by SFR, 20 percent by Bull and the remainder through Caisse des Dépôts.