The Cloud

The Cloud
Industry	Public access Wi-Fi
Headquarters	St Albans, Hertfordshire, England
Number of locations	7,000
Area served	Europe
Key people	Steve Nicholson, CEO and Chairman
Employees	100
Parent	BSkyB
Website	www.thecloud.net

The Cloud, a BSkyB subsidiary, is a provider of public access Wi-Fi hotspots in Europe.^[1] It has services operating across 7,000 locations with 22,000 Wi-Fi network access points in 12 European countries.^[2] The Cloud has offices in London, Munich, and Stockholm.^[2]

Timeline

Year	Event
Jan 2003	The Cloud is founded
Mar 2003	The Cloud's network begins roll-out
Apr 2003	BT Openzone becomes the first Service Provider on the Cloud network
May 2003	Network reaches 1000 sites
Dec 2003	The Cloud wins the Brainheart European Wi-Fi Award 2003
Jan 2005	Roll out begins in Nordics
Sep 2004	Integrated WLAN and 3G service launched for 02
Feb 2005	Airnyx acquired in Germany
May 2005	Roll out begins in Germany
July 2005	Net Chek-In acquired in Germany
Sept 2005	Exilan acquired
Dec 2005	The World Economic Forum Announces New Class of Technology Pioneers for 2006: The Cloud Networks Selected
Dec 2005	Canova Wireless acquired in the UK
Apr 2006	iPass joins the network
Sep 2006	Telenor partners with The Cloud Nordics
Jan 2007	Steve Nicholson joins the Cloud as CEO
Oct 2007	McDonald’s takes free Wi-Fi mainstream with The Cloud
Jan 2008	Acquisition of hotel Wi-Fi specialist GANAG in Germany
Oct 2008	€15 million funding round from Ferd Ventures, existing investors and GP Bullhound
Dec 2008	Roll out new user centric service platform
Jun 2009	The Company moves its UK Headquarters to St Albans
Sep 2009	Cloud network locator launched for the iPhone
Oct 2009	Launch of new Palm Pre mobile smartphone with the Cloud / O2
Jan 2010	Naunton Dickins joins the company as UK Managing Director
Jan 2010	FastConnect is launched to make Wi-Fi universally simple
Jan 2011	Acquired by BSkyB^[3]
Aug 2011	The Cloud becomes exclusive free hotspot provider for Telefónica Germany ^[4]