Global technology giant Thales, a company delivering advanced technologies including connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum computing with 81,000 employees working in 68 countries, has teamed up with Google to develop a sovereign cloud to meet the French ‘Trusted Cloud’ requirements. Hosted in France, the new hyperscale offering, will be deployed completely separately from Google Cloud’s infrastructure while being offered from a new entity to be established.
Thales and Google Cloud are aiming their new public cloud offering in France at both private and public organizations. Clients of the new hyperscale services will be enabled to fulfill the criteria, as defined by the French Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI) and meet the highest legal and technological requirements for ‘Trusted Cloud.’ It allows them to take advantage of public cloud computing services in compliance with the sovereign cloud strategy of France.
“To adapt to the diversity of our customers’ cloud needs, Thales offers a wide range of options with partners in its ecosystem,” said Marc Darmon, Executive Vice President, Secure Communications and Information Systems at Thales. “Thanks to this unique collaboration with Google Cloud, we will be able to help power the digital transformation for organizations of all sizes and industries that want to keep control and sovereignty over their data and that of their customers. Together, we will address the criteria defined by the government for a trusted cloud, as well as environmental goals with a sustainable approach for the infrastructure we will build.”
New Company under French Law
French companies and public sector institutions would be able to benefit from the following set of hyperscale cloud services:
- Operated by a dedicated, newly established company under French law, held in majority by Thales
- Hosted in France using a separate network and servers managed and administered by the new enterprise, within infrastructure independent from Google Cloud
- Ensuring customer service is delivered in France with local support from the new firm
- The new firm provides local security through identity management, data encryption, administration and oversight
- Regularly updated via rolling software, tested and verified within a Thales-managed security sandbox
Managed on a “sustainably” developed infrastructure.
“The government’s national cloud strategy clearly specifies the state’s willingness to use and promote high-performance and trusted cloud offerings,” said Guillaume Poupard, Director General of the National Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI) The challenge is to have the widest possible range of solutions compliant with the SecNumCloud repository which details the technical, operational and legal security rules capable of effectively protecting data and processes hosted in a cloud service. ANSSI therefore enthusiastically welcomes this ambitious project that meets these criteria.”
“Thales and Google Cloud have a joint vision to deliver the most innovative and trusted solutions to companies and public sector organizations in France,” said Thomas Kurian, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Google Cloud. “Our unique approach to addressing the concerns of French citizens and government bodies, including the development of a new company, ensures organizations can benefit from the innovation and agility of the cloud, without compromising on the security, privacy and sovereignty required by the French government.”
