Voices from the 8ra Ecosystem
What does Europe’s emerging cloud-edge ecosystem look like in practice? In our interviews, we speak with the people shaping 8ra from different perspectives: project leads, technology experts, new ecosystem members, policymakers, decision-makers and stakeholders from across Europe.
Through video and written interviews, they share insights into their work, their motivation and their view on how 8ra can contribute to a more open, interoperable and sovereign digital infrastructure for Europe.
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© TIM S.p.A. „Federation is not just a technical matter“
In an ecosystem with around 120 partners, technology is just one piece of the puzzle. An equally important challenge is whether projects, providers and countries can align on how their systems should work together. That question is now central to Mauro Boldi, Chair of the IPCEI-CIS Facilitation Group.
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© DLR “Cloud providers need more choice, flexibility and sovereignty”
With the ApeiroRA project, SAP aims to develop a reference blueprint for an open, flexible, and secure next generation cloud-edge infrastructure. Mike Cosse describes how project partners joined forces with the Linux Foundation Europe to establish the NeoNephos Foundation.
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© Pēteris Ārājs | © Jānis Kampars “Digital twins should be reusable, not rebuilt from scratch”
Urban digital twins are widely seen as a powerful tool for city planning. Most implementations are developed as stand-alone solutions, which makes them costly and hard to transfer. In our interview, Jānis Kampars & Pēteris Ārājs describe how a modular platform can simplify how digital twins are developed and operated.
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© Ákos Tényi & Antal Kuthy “When data is distributed, AI should work that way too. “
In this conversation, Antal Kuthy, Founder & CEO of E-Group, and Akos Tenyi, who leads E-Group’s Federated AI (FedX)I product line, describe how their Hungarian IPCEI-CIS project FedEU.ai approaches that challenge through federated learning and distributed compute. Instead of moving data, their systems move models and intelligence to where data already lives.
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© Erik Langius “Our mission is to move away from closed ecosystems and create a genuinely open European cloud environment.”
Erik Langius works at TNO, the Netherland’s Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, and is the project coordinator for the Dutch IPCEI-CIS project ECOFED. In our interview he explains, in which ways the architectural design of 8ra helps to build a federation that works in a fully distributed way.
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© DLR “We are suggesting a template driven harmonisation approach”
The FACIS project – Federation Architecture for Composition Infrastructure Services – orchestrates innovative federated infrastructures and exemplary governance frameworks. Andreas Weiss defines the goals of FACIS: the seamless integration of different providers, the harmonisation of SLAs, and the accelerated adoption of digital services.
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© DLR “Interoperability sets us apart from American hyperscalers”
The European Cloud Campus project enables EU hyperscaler-like deployments of compute, storage and other Cloud-enabled capacity. In our video interview, Svenja de Vos illustrates how the development of an interoperable Cloud environment following European values, standards and rules sets 8ra apart.
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© DLR “We are creating real world applications”
Lab8ra is a distributed European test and validation environment that enables cloud-edge technologies from different partners to be integrated, tested and validated. In our video interview, Alessio Manca describes, how the testbed brings together cloud, edge, telco and HPC environments, as well as applications and orchestration solutions.
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© DLR “We have tailor-made solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises”
The GREEN-TWIN Project focuses on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction and manufacturing sectors. In our video interview, Till Hertwig and Björn Schuster explain how digital twins can enable operating scenarios for buildings, monitor shop floors or develop better after sales solutions for machine builders.
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© Arsys “We have the advantage that we are many.”
As the Manager of Arsys Lab – the innovation laboratory for Arsys – Javier Arnáez argues that Europe’s competitive edge lies in cooperation and a deep commitment to digital sovereignty. In this interview, he highlights how an interoperable cloud infrastructure and strategic AI use can pave the way for a resilient European digital transformation.
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© Michel Iñigo, MONDRAGON Corporation “Interoperability is the key to scaling industrial AI.”
European manufacturers want AI that works across mixed equipment and sites without losing control of their data. In this Interview, Michel Iñigo Ulloa gives insight into how MONDRAGON together with the 8ra ecosystem is building an open, interoperable stack that keeps decisions at the edge and governance with each company.
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© Fondazione Bruno Kessler Archive “Identity becomes the new perimeter of security.”
Silvio Ranise is Director of the Center for Cybersecurity at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) and Professor at the University of Trento. In this conversation, he shares his perspective on how digital identity, AI at the edge, and the Lab8ra testbed are shaping Europe’s path toward a resilient and interoperable Multi-Provider Cloud-Edge Continuum.
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© DLR “We have solutions that show interoperability and portability”
Virt8ra is the software stack for virtualisation developed within the IPCEI-CIS / 8ra ecosystem. It is the main deliverable of the IPCEI-CIS Integration Cluster on Virtualization. In our video interview, Florence Bout describes how Virt8ra supports a growing network of facilities that deploy the Virt8ra software stack.
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© Giovanni Frattini “Scale up, make technology usable!”
In this interview, Giovanni Frattini from the AVANT project, shares his vision for the future of digital infrastructure in Europe. He argues that the next wave of digital transformation must be scalable and usable, and that a federated model is designed to achieve this by building a “toolbox” of interoperable solutions.
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© NBIP “We have to get smart.”
Our new interview series highlights the leaders shaping the Multi-Provider Cloud-Edge Continuum across Europe. In June, we talked with Octavia de Weerdt, General Director at NBIP, a Dutch non-profit that helps digital infrastructure providers meet compliance and security needs through shared services. She explains how cybersecurity could become Europe’s strategic edge.
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© DLR “It’s time to wake up”
Phoenix Systems is developing a next generation, open-source, scalable real-time operating system for the Edge-IoT to power the distributed Multi-Provider Cloud-Edge Continuum. In our interview, Kaja Swat and Pawel Pisarczyk encourage European policy makers to be brave and move fast.
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© DLR “This IPCEI is a good start, but we can go further with more intensity”
The major goals of Orange’s project include the development of an Open-Source Telco Cloud Stack, an agile information system, and advanced tools for smart data processing and energy efficiency. In our video interview, Nicolas Homo sees Open Source as an excellent approach and a key driver of the 8ra Initiative.
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© DLR “There is a high demand for low latency edge solutions”
The RESCUE project is developing a pilot setup of cyber-resistant digital twins for data centres and edges. KeeCEK is focussing on technologies that make Cloud-Edge nodes smaller, more energy-efficient and effective. We talked to Axel Stahlhut and Oliver Speks about their projects.
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© DLR “We understand how to scale infrustructure”
With the ApeiroRA project, SAP aims to develop a reference blueprint for an open, flexible, powerful, and secure next generation cloud-edge infrastructure. In our video interview, Martin Fassunge explains, why he prefers active public sector investments to funding programmes.
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© DLR “8ra has a real opportunity for transforming the cloud market”
Airbus Operations GmbH‘s AXIS – Aero Concept for Cloud Information Services – project connects aircraft as “flying edge devices” to an IPCEI-CIS-compliant infrastructure. In our video interview, Felix Beckmann explains why European, federated, open and decentralised Cloud infrastructure is essential.
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© DLR “Programmes like IPCEI-CIS are crucial to accelerate innovation”
The EdgeConnect project focuses on integration of services from cloud-to-edge based on a new quality level of interconnections, mission-critical capabilities in orchestration and federation of workloads. In our video interview, Lara Grohe explains why funding programmes like IPCEI-CIS are crucial to accelerate innovation.
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© DLR “A common framework for agreements benefits everybody”
The FACIS project enhances the development of collaborative ecosystems by orchestrating innovative federated infrastructures and exemplary governance frameworks. In our video interview, Andreas Weiss, Managing Director at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, describes why a shared framework for agreements benefits everybody.
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© DLR “It is a very pivotal moment”
The vision of FedEU.ai is a federated cloud-edge AI continuum based on privacy-preserving and federated computing elements. In our video interview, Antal Kuthy points out that now is a pivotal moment for the EU cloud market.