Laurent Allard, Head of Sovereign Cloud EMEA, VMware
Enabling sovereignty, stimulating cloud adoption, creating new opportunities for local cloud providers, and supporting the growth of the digital and data economies locally and regionally are key priorities for VMware, as we support customers in the new digital era. And because our multi-cloud platform is fully aligned with the Gaia-X principles, it is well-placed to be part of the next generation of data infrastructure in Europe and beyond. We welcome any such initiative that helps accelerate the development of this infrastructure and the new capabilities it supports and this is why VMware is now the first global technology player to announce its membership of Structura-X.
A Gaia-X lighthouse project of initially 28 cloud service, open-source and infrastructure providers, Structura-X is described as a ‘Federation of Infrastructures’, aiming to industrialise the Gaia-X reference architecture to deliver and accelerate digital infrastructures and Data Spaces that align with the Gaia-X principles of portability, reversibility, and interoperability. The initiative gives us the opportunity to work alongside others in the industry and cloud providers that we partner with – and those we don’t – to provide practical solutions to achieving sovereignty.
Why is this membership exciting for VMware, our customers and partners?
Meeting sovereignty appetite with solutions that deliver
Sovereignty is now high on the list of priorities when we’re speaking to customers. Organisations are reviewing their private and public cloud environments to unlock the value of their data, meet strict, complex, and changing data sovereignty regulations, and identify ways to combat new threats to data privacy and security.
The pace at which sovereignty has reached this priority level has meant that we, as technology providers, are now working hard to develop solutions that will meet customer sovereignty needs as well as the interoperability requirements of Gaia-X. This topic was the central point of a panel discussion we had with Francesco Bonfiglio, CEO Gaia-X, Sylvain Rouri, Chief Sales Officer, OVHcloud, and Pauline Flament, Chief Technology Officer at Michelin (you can see the write-up of this here).
Becoming a member of Structura-X means that we can better support partners that are members of the VMware Cloud Provider Program and Structura-X with the technology they need to align to sovereignty standards – quicker and more simply. Our single multi-cloud platform is the only one that delivers full cloud independence, meaning that European Cloud Service Providers can give their customers choice over which cloud or clouds they would like to use to protect and share their data in line with Gaia-X principles.
We are also looking forward to working closely with other members of the initiative to accelerate the development of Data Spaces for customers across Europe, collaborating closely on any issues as they arise and fast-tracking innovations in the continued development of new technologies in this space. Check out how we are collaborating on Data Spaces with Atos here.
Committing to a more sovereign future
Our commitment to sovereignty is just getting started. Last year we announced how we are driving cloud adoption and our engagement with Gaia-X and we see ourselves joining Structura-X as further support of our belief that any initiatives that simplify and accelerate achieving sovereignty, and make data accessible for our customers, we want to be part of.
As a member of Structura-X and the multi-cloud platform provider for all apps globally, we hope to play our part in stimulating cloud adoption and creating new opportunities for local cloud providers to fuel local and regional digital economies.
For more information about VMware Sovereign Cloud, click here.
