One of the great challenges in the Cloud Computing world is to create portable metadata, so that specific files, and not just bits and bytes, can be easily transported among storage subsystems throughout a Cloud environment that might span several countries. This is a tougher technical challenge than, say, juggling two oranges. In fact, the EU thinks it's at least a $20 million challenge, so has funded roughly that amount to IBM and several European companies to research it. The initiative, called VISION Cloud--Virtualized Storage Services for the Future Internet --focuses on data as represented by smart objects that include rich information describing the content of the data and how the object should be handled, replicated, or preserved. The research project "will tackle the major challenges facing today's storage clouds, including: cost-effectiveness, data mobility across cloud providers, security guarantees, and the massive computing power demands that are affecting quality of service," according to an official statement. [..]