The new virt8ra infrastructure, run by European open source technology, is the first tangible result of the industrial collaboration sponsored by the €3B IPCEI Cloud
MADRID, SPAIN – “I’m proud to see the EU industry finally taking the lead in developing strategic open source technologies and delivering tangible solutions for creating a sovereign digital infrastructure across Europe,” — Dr. Alberto P. Martí, Chair of the IPCEI-CIS Industry Facilitation Group.
A group of eight European tech organisations (Arsys, BIT, Gdańsk University of Technology, Infobip, IONOS, Kontron, MONDRAGON Corporation, and Oktawave)—coordinated by the Spanish open source company OpenNebula Systems—has launched virt8ra, the first sovereign multi-provider edge cloud in Europe. The first version of this innovative infrastructure, aimed at providing portability and interoperability across multiple cloud providers, offers computing and storage resources in six EU member states (Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, and Spain).
This unique collaboration has taken place in the context of the Important Project of Common European Interest on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS), approved by the European Commission in December 2023 and supported by 12 EU Member States. As part of the virt8ra integration cluster, more than 30 European companies are working together on an open source software stack for virtualization, able to offer a “made in Europe” vendor-neutral solution for managing the emerging cloud-edge continuum. The IPCEI Cloud, funded with more than €3B in public and private investment, represents the largest open source project in the history of the EU.
The virt8ra infrastructure is the first step towards demonstrating a viable management of distributed cloud and edge computing services, ranging from 5G cell towers to cloud providers and data centers, in order to provide a solution for use cases that demand ultra-low-latency, such as smart trains, remote surgery, connected vehicles, smart factories, and wildfire management. The new open source technology behind virt8ra, crucial for strengthening Europe’s technological sovereignty in the cloud market, will offer EU companies and governments a way to reduce their current dependence on hyperscalers and Big Tech vendors.
The current version of the virt8ra infrastructure is already able to demonstrate a number of unique features, including interoperability—through a single control plane for managing physical resources, virtual machines, and Kubernetes clusters across multiple cloud providers—and portability—allowing applications to be easily deployed, executed, and migrated across different locations and cloud providers. This infrastructure will incorporate more locations and new advanced features in order to meet the evolving needs of European enterprises and next-generation use cases, including the deployment of distributed AI applications at the edge.
In order to ensure a competitive market in the EU, customers of data processing and AI services should be able to switch seamlessly from one cloud or edge provider to another. This will benefit customers—who could freely choose the services that best meet their needs—as well as infrastructure providers—who would benefit from a larger customer base. However, nowadays customers still face significant barriers imposed by dominant players, including high data egress fees, complex migration procedures, and a lack of interoperability between cloud providers. In line with the EU Data Act, which will become applicable in September 2025, the virt8ra initiative will provide the open source technological stack that enables the smooth switching between data processing services.
What virt8ra Partners Say
“The virt8ra testbed represents a turning point in the way in which EU tech champions are coming together to fix the EU cloud market. We are finally building a sovereign cloud-edge continuum based on vendor neutrality and European open source. Through the ONEnextgen project, we are turning OpenNebula into a core IPCEI-CIS technology and the most powerful virtualization platform available in the market,” said Ignacio M. Llorente, CEO of OpenNebula Systems and Chair of the Cloud-Edge Working Group of the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud.
“The virt8ra testbed is our first step at Arsys towards the development of the meta-orchestration software that will enable a multi-vendor solution from technology providers across Europe. This testbed is part of Arsys’ commitment to the federated multi-vendor IT infrastructure being built at virt8ra. It is also a noteworthy milestone and the kick-off for future cloud-edge continuum solutions that will boost the European data economy, digital sovereignty, and competitiveness in the global market,” said Miguel Martínez Vélez, Chief Product Officer at Arsys.
“BIT is providing Netherlands-based resources to the virt8ra infrastructure while also being a partner in ECOFED, an IPCEI-CIS project aimed at creating a federated European cloud. Collaborating with virt8ra partners has been an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas and work alongside talented individuals toward shared goals. BIT hopes to use the testbed in the future to test ECOFED solutions and collaborate further with other IPCEI-CIS projects,” said Cristiaan Brans, Project Leader at BIT.
“As a participant of the IPCEI-CIS, Gdańsk University of Technology is providing resources in Poland for the virt8ra testbed. The cooperation with European partners is being undertaken under project CAISE (Cloud Artificial Intelligence Service Engineering). The work we carry out is in line with the objectives of the CAISE project, which is to provide high quality, efficient and portable cloud services for researchers and SMEs to develop innovative AI services,” said Piotr Orzechowski, Deputy Director for Development at the TASK Informatics Center.
“IONOS, through its project IONORA, is contributing to the virt8ra testbed by providing computing infrastructure in the form of bare-metal servers located in our German Data Centers. This marks the first step in establishing cooperation with various participants in this IPCEI-CIS integration cluster. Moving forward, we will deepen our collaboration with OpenNebula Systems by incorporating advanced features enabling the automatic provisioning and shifting of VMs. This approach allows us to test our infrastructure’s readiness for large-scale deployments and to enhance our automation capabilities, which will be crucial as we explore edge use cases. Furthermore, this aligns with IONORA’s goal of extending IONOS Cloud’s scalability, agility, and automation to meet growing industry demands,” said Alina Rubina, Senior Project Manager at IONOS.
“Kontron is excited to be the first Slovenian partner providing cloud resources to the virt8ra infrastructure. Through this collaboration, we’re aligning with IPCEI-CIS goals to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty and driving innovation across the continent. This distributed environment is a playground for further research and development on the cloud continuum, which we believe should be federated from heterogeneous (country-oriented) autonomous clouds,” said Jože Orehar, Head of the Cloud Platform Department at Kontron.
“Through its R&D center IKERLAN, the MONDRAGON Corporation is actively contributing to the virt8ra testbed by providing advanced infrastructure resources from the Basque Country. This collaboration reflects the commitment as an indirect partner of IPCEI-CIS through the AASDS-IND project to drive innovation to Europe’s technological leadership, specifically to address the challenges in the cloud and edge computing domain for enabling advanced distributed and standardized data spaces applications in the industry and automotive sector,” said Michel Iñigo Ulloa, Senior Innovation & Technology Manager at MONDRAGON Corporation.
“Oktawave’s contribution to virt8ra is based on the development of components highly connected to data security, not only on Confidential Computing but also on data access management. Those will fit in the southbridge part of virt8ra reference architecture. On top of that we are proud to be engaged in providing computing power and data space for intra IPCEI-CIS development of virt8ra components which will work across the whole EU,” said Paweł Masłowski, Chief Innovation Officer at Oktawave.
About OpenNebula Systems
OpenNebula Systems develops the open source cloud and edge computing platform OpenNebula, supports its Community, and provides SLA-based support, enterprise tools, consulting, and managed cloud services. OpenNebula Systems has a global presence, with offices in Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, and the US.
The virt8ra initiative is supported by the Spanish Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service through OpenNebula Systems’ ONEnextgen project (UNICO IPCEI-2023-003), and co-funded by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU through the RRF.
Check virt8ra.eu for more information.
