European Open Federated Cloud Ecosystem

An open European Cloud Infrastructure will create choice for governments and businesses

On 5 December 2023 the European Commission approved the Important Project of Common European Interest – Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS). With this project a total sum of 2.6 billion will be invested in the development of a European cloud infrastructure. The Netherlands is participating in IPCEI-CIS with three projects for €70 million. One of those three projects is the ECOFED project, which will focus on cloud federation as an important basis for future digital infrastructure.

The ECOFED project focuses on the development of open interfaces and open source software tools to facilitate the unbundling of software and cloud solutions. This makes switching easier within the cloud ecosystem and offers more choice to users. The project also includes the creation of a national testbed.

The project will run from 2024 to 2027 and includes collaboration with European partners such as OpenNebula and Arsys in Spain, Engineering in Italy and SAP in Germany. The goal is to lay the technical foundation for an open and federated cloud ecosystem, in which integrators and infrastructure providers can trade different services without the need for a central platform provider.

The ECOFED project aims to leverage the strengths of the Dutch sector, such as the high density of data centers and the large number of cloud service providers. The project aspires to become the national testbed for companies looking to transition from closed hyperscale cloud platforms to a federated cloud ecosystem.

Stefan Ideler, CTO of i3D.net, states: "i3D.net has always recognized the importance of a decentralized internet landscape. We are committed to building an open and distributed cloud platform, in collaboration with our partners, to create more growth opportunities in the digital world."

Wido Potters of BIT emphasizes the consortium's vision: "Together with our partners, we are developing technology that enables a decentralized, federated cloud. This ensures cloud portability for European businesses and cloud sovereignty for European citizens."

AMS-IX, one of the largest Internet exchanges in the world, underscores the importance of implementing an open and federated cloud. This step also demonstrates that the Netherlands is the digital hub of Europe, ensuring that Dutch companies remain leaders in adopting advanced technologies, according to Peter van Burgel, CEO of AMS-IX.

The allocation of European funding marks an important step towards the cloud infrastructure of the future. Lammert Vinke, Unit Manager at Info Support, emphasizes the importance of sovereignty: "Making a concrete contribution to a decentralized, open, and federated cloud that should enable European data sovereignty is a technical challenge we gladly accept." As cloud becomes an increasingly important part of digital infrastructures, the knowledge institute TNO is making scientific knowledge applicable for an open and future-proof digital infrastructure. TNO is also the lead organization for the ECOFED consortium.