The response is being organized against Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, the world cloud leaders who hold 71% of the market in France. After Numspot, the “trusted cloud” resulting from the collaboration between La Poste, Dassault Systèmes and Bouygues Telecom, it is the turn of Inria (National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology) to offer an alternative to the offers American behemoths in the sector.
To do this, the research institute has decided to partner with the French start-up Hive, which is developing a decentralized cloud platform. The two parties have entered into a partnership that will last four years. This alliance aims to give birth to a sovereign cloud that will be based on a peer-to-peer network.
In other words, the goal is to build a cloud that relies on the unused resources of customers’ computers, which would therefore also act as servers to host this system. This approach thus makes it possible to dispense with the use of data centers. “We are going to build a sovereign cloud, capable of competing with historical cloud providers and guaranteeing digital human rights”assures David Gurlé, founder of Hive.
A first version for individuals in 2023
With the French start-up, which raised 7 million euros this year to launch its activity, Inria intends to address several issues, such as data repair in a peer-to-peer network. Within this framework, eight doctoral and post-doctoral students and engineers will be recruited within three Inria project-teams. The first results of the experiments carried out by the two partners are expected from the beginning of 2024. “The partnership with Hive is a good example of the partnerships that Inria is forging with technological start-ups that have an ambition, here for the design and deployment of peer-to-peer clouds”says Bruno Sportisse, CEO of Inria.
By joining forces, the research institute and the Hive company hope to create a French cloud giant, with the development of cutting-edge technology, accessible to all, respectful of the environment. A first version of this sovereign cloud is expected in the spring of 2023 to first target individuals before opening up to small and medium-sized businesses. This solution is expected at the turn, while the debate is raging in Europe in terms of data sovereignty and that American players, such as AWS and Google Cloud, are joining forces with large French groups to launch “trusted cloud” offers. ”.