Aruba S.p.A., the largest Italian cloud provider and leader in data center services, web hosting, e-mail, PEC and domain registration, formalizes its status as a Day-1 member of the GAIA-X project. With the aim of making a strong contribution to the development of a secure, reliable and certified network infrastructure for sharing and accessing data across Europe, the GAIA-X project is a step forward towards enabling a Cloud offering based on European values.
Officially presented at the Digital Summit 2019, GAIA-X was formed with the intention of creating an interoperable and secure cloud infrastructure, based on compliance with European standards and regulations. It helps to create a free and transparent data environment, in which the potential for vendor lock-in is eliminated, and encourage competition between cloud solution providers, providing the highest level of certification, with the guarantee of the full protection of the European law.
GAIA-X, due to be launched as early as 2021, acts as a legal entity supported by the European Commission according to the standards set out by its members. It is a project open to all countries that decide to contribute to its growth and join in as members, with the goal to provide European companies with a secure cloud network, using standards guaranteed by the European institutional system.
Judging by the number of companies participating in the project and the country they are based in, Italy ranks third, behind only German and French firms. In total, 22 companies and founding associations are behind the project and there are also further providers that have been recently officialised, one of them being Aruba, which is named as a Day-1 Member of the project.
“We’re aware how valuable and how much of a strategic resource data represents to every European company and beyond. GAIA-X aims to dictate a new European standard for the creation and provision of cloud services ideal for managing, storing, and processing data for everyday citizens and their businesses. This will most certainly strengthen the innovation and adoption of cloud computing while promoting European digital sovereignty” said Stefano Cecconi, CEO of Aruba S.p.A.
He continues, “we joined the project as a Day-1 member because we believe that any service provided to citizens and businesses – either Italian or European – must comply with the same laws and regulations, the same principles and technical standards, in order to guarantee total interoperability between operators that adhere to the project by giving advantages to the users. ”
The newly formed GAIA-X company is a non-profit company that will oversee the creation, implementation, and promotion of this digital ecosystem, based in Belgium, Europe’s institutional heart.
