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In conjunction with Google Cloud, Thales has announced the formation of S3NS, a French firm that will provide public and private enterprises in France with the power of Google Cloud in a manner that is entirely consistent with France’s ‘Trusted Cloud’ designation.
Following the announcement of a cooperation in October 2021 between Thales and Google Cloud to work together to produce a Trusted Cloud solution that complies with local laws in France, the new firm, which is majority owned and controlled by Thales, is incorporated under French law.
Google Cloud and Thales are dedicated to assisting businesses and government organizations in innovating and accelerating their digital transformation. They plan to do so in ways that promote independence, compliance sovereignty, and the highest possible advantages for their users and clients.
From the second half of 2024, S3NS will make available its ‘trusted cloud’ offering, which will eventually combine the full functionality, services, and applications of Google Cloud technology while allowing protection from extraterritorial foreign laws and adhering to the requirements of the ‘Trusted Cloud’ label of France’s Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI) in line with the French State strategy.
To assure data and workload localization in France, S3NS will directly run three data centers. The recruitment of engineers who will run the ‘Trusted Cloud’ will start this year, along with the availability of data centers and engineering support.
‘High Public Cloud Performance’
The initial product from S3NS is called ‘Local control with S3NS,’ and it would continue to provide Google Cloud users in France with high public cloud performance while also enabling them to localize their clients’ data as desired or necessary in France or elsewhere in Europe. Customers will be able to limit data access to only places in the European Union for administrative service and technical assistance. Data access can be encrypted controlled with the use of S3NS’s external encryption key management. This first product boosts customer confidence in cloud operations by bringing compliance with more automation to streamline operations and more auditability and transparency.
S3NS is completing specific collaboration agreements with key participants in France’s expanding digital ecosystem in order to best support customers during their transition to the ‘Trusted Cloud.’ As S3NS customers would move and operate their workloads and applications safely with the aid of S3NS and other managed services, partners will be able to support S3NS customers in their cloud and digital sovereignty plan.
“The S3NS offering is the best of both worlds: the agility and wide range of services of a cloud hyperscaler combined with the security and data protection of a cybersecurity leader,” said Marc Darmon, Executive Vice President, Secure Communications and Information Systems at Thales. “This step marks the beginning of a technological and industrial adventure which will engage all the French economic players attached to a trusted solution. As a leader in critical information systems, Thales is once again demonstrating its ability to be a driving force in disruptive technologies.”
“The creation of S3NS, progress on the definition of our Trusted Cloud offering and the availability of our ‘Local controls with S3NS’ is the result of many months of collaboration between Thales and the Google Cloud teams,” said Cyprien Falque, Managing Director at S3NS. “This is a first step and a first milestone this year, before our future solution in compliance with the French ‘Trusted Cloud’ criteria, which we are working on in parallel. Our objective is to be the first to make such an offering available for certification and based on hyperscale cloud technology. ‘Local Controls with S3NS’ enables our customers to start their journey to the trusted cloud now.”
“We are very proud to support our partner Thales and its subsidiary S3NS and its first offering in the French market,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO at Google Cloud.
About Thales. “This collaboration between our teams reflects on the one hand an understanding of the expectations related to digital sovereignty, and on the other hand a real technological trajectory. We confirm the commitments made together in 2021 and will continue to support digital transformation with offers that combine security and sovereignty, without compromising on performance.”
11,000 New Hires Globally, 4,000 in France
As a global provider of managed IT infrastructure and cloud services, Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) invests in digital and ‘deep tech’ developments such as connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and quantum computing. The Group offers its clients -businesses, organizations, and governments – solutions and services that enable clients to carry out their crucial roles in the fields of defense, aviation, space, transportation, and digital identity and security. In 68 countries, Thales employs 81,000 employees in total. Sales for the Group totaled €16.2 billion in 2021.
To fuel the upcoming disruptive innovations, Thales is speeding up its recruitment strategy and plans to hire 11,000 new employees from across the world. Thales also plans to generate 3,000 internal mobility opportunities inside the Group in 2022 after hiring 9,000 people globally in 2021.
As part of the Group’s training and talent acquisition plan, Thales is hiring 2,500 young people on internship and apprenticeship contracts in France and 4,000 people on permanent or fixed-term contracts. This hiring initiative involves all 46 Thales locations throughout seven French regions: Nouvelle Aquitaine, Île-de-France, Centre Val-de-Loire, Grand Ouest, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, Rhône-Alpes, and Occitanie.
Executive Summary
Collaboration between Google Cloud and Thales
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Thales and Google Cloud formed S3NS, a French firm that will provide public and private enterprises in France with the power of Google Cloud in a manner that is entirely consistent with France’s ‘Trusted Cloud’ designation
-
From the second half of 2024, they will make available their ‘trusted cloud’ offering which will eventually combine the full functionality, services, and applications of GoogleCloud technology while allowing protection from extraterritorial foreign laws
‘High Public Cloud Performance’
-
S3NS will continue to provide Google Cloud users in France with high public cloud performance while also enabling them to localize their clients’ data as desired or necessary in France or elsewhere in Europe
-
Customers will be able to limit data access to only places in the European Union for administrative service and technical assistance
-
This first product boosts customer confidence in cloud operations by bringing compliance with more automation to streamline operations
11,000 New Hires Globally, 4,000 in France
-
Thales (Euronext Paris: ** invests in digital and ‘deep tech’ developments such as connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and quantum computing.
-
To fuel the upcoming disruptive innovations, Thales is speeding up its recruitment strategy and plans to hire eleven,000 new employees from across the world.
