Nine European technology organisations, coordinated by Spain's OpenNebula Systems, have launched Europe's first sovereign edge cloud, which they have named Virt8ra. This milestone represents the first European alternative in this field and will provide portability and interoperability between multiple cloud providers, as well as offering computing and storage resources in six EU Member States (Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Spain).

Eight other European technology organisations have been involved in developing this innovative infrastructure alongside OpenNebula Systems: Arsys, BIT, the Gdansk University of Technology, Infobip, Ionos, Kontron, Mondragon Corporation and Oktawave. It is a European open source technology-driven infrastructure, and is supported by the European Union's IPCEI project, with capital of over 3 billion euros.

Solution made in Europe
The Important Project of Common European Interest on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS) was approved by the European Commission in December 2023 and is supported by 12 EU Member States. Over 30 companies are participating in devising an open source software stack for virtualisation, with the aim of creating a European-built, vendor-independent solution to manage the cloud-to-edge continuum. Ultimately, it is about companies controlling where their data is held and processed, more quickly, more securely and independently.

With funding of over 3 billion euros, the IPCEI cloud is already the largest open source project in EU history. The Chair of the IPCEI-CIS industry facilitation group, Alberto P. Marti, is therefore proud to see “EU industry finally taking the lead in developing strategic open source technologies and offering tangible solutions to create a sovereign digital infrastructure across Europe”.

Next generation use cases
The Virt8ra infrastructure paves the way to build a European alternative that will enable next generation use cases requiring ultra-low latency to be developed. This definition can include everything from smart trains to remote surgery, connected vehicles, smart factories and forest fire management, among other examples. Support will range from 5G cell towers to cloud providers and data centres. Open source technologies will for their part help strengthen the digital sovereignty of EU companies and public organisations and reduce their current dependence on hyperscalers and Big Tech providers.

In line with the EU Data Law, which will enter into force in September 2025, the Virt8ra initiative will in addition provide the open source technology stack that enables seamless switching between data processing services.

^{Photo: IPCEI-CIS}