{"id":232276,"date":"2021-04-21T15:00:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/what-is-gaia-x-and-why-are-aws-google-and-azure-involved-cloudsavvy-it\/"},"modified":"2021-04-21T15:00:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T12:00:19","slug":"what-is-gaia-x-and-why-are-aws-google-and-azure-involved-cloudsavvy-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-gaia-x-and-why-are-aws-google-and-azure-involved-cloudsavvy-it\/","title":{"rendered":"#What is GAIA-X and Why Are AWS, Google, and Azure Involved? \u2013 CloudSavvy IT"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3b76000469c\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3b76000469c\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-gaia-x-and-why-are-aws-google-and-azure-involved-cloudsavvy-it\/#Data_Sovereignty\" >Data Sovereignty<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-gaia-x-and-why-are-aws-google-and-azure-involved-cloudsavvy-it\/#Geography_and_Data_Privacy\" >Geography and Data Privacy<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-gaia-x-and-why-are-aws-google-and-azure-involved-cloudsavvy-it\/#The_GAIA-X_Initiative\" >The GAIA-X Initiative<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-gaia-x-and-why-are-aws-google-and-azure-involved-cloudsavvy-it\/#The_Big_Boys_Want_In_Too\" >The Big Boys Want In Too<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#What is GAIA-X and Why Are AWS, Google, and Azure Involved? \u2013 CloudSavvy IT&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content-area\">\n<figure style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10773 size-full\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.cloudsavvyit.com\/p\/uploads\/2021\/04\/42f90890.png?width=1200&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"350\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/team-professional-data-center-engineers-setting-1684519147\" data-credittext=\"Shutterstock\/ Fractal Pictures\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/team-professional-data-center-engineers-setting-1684519147\">Shutterstock\/ Fractal Pictures<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>GAIA-X is a European initiative intended to provide a unified ecosystem of cloud services and data centers governed by EU data laws. So why are American cloud companies rushing to sign up?<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"data-sovereignty\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Data_Sovereignty\"><\/span>Data Sovereignty<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Data sovereignty is a big issue. It\u2019s the concept that data\u2014especially personally identifiable information (PII)\u2014is governed by the data protection laws and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> practices of the country in which it is processed. even inert storage usually counts as processing under data protection legislation.\u00a0 Things become more complicated when the data is processed in another country.<\/p>\n<p>The usual stance is that the country the data is sent to for processing or storage must have a data protection framework in place that is at least as effective as the framework of the original country. The\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/HTML\/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&amp;qid=1600605964569&amp;from=EN\">General Data Protection Regulation<\/a>\u00a0(GDPR) took this stance and made it law in the EU.<\/p>\n<p>Europe isn\u2019t an isolated case. Many non-European countries have laws relating to data residency and data sovereignty such as Russia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Data residency and data sovereignty are often confused or conflated into one thing. They\u2019re actually different, allied, concepts.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Data Residency<\/strong>: Data residency is where a country or business specifies that data is stored in a specific geographic location. A business may do this to take advantage of a permissive legal system or attractive tax laws.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Data Sovereignty<\/strong>: Data sovereignty builds on top of the geographic demands of data residency. The data is also subject to the laws of the country in which the servers are physically located. This is dictated by legislation rather than business choice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"geography-and-data-privacy\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Geography_and_Data_Privacy\"><\/span>Geography and Data Privacy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The biggest cloud players such as\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/cloud\">IBM<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-us&amp;key=204a528a336ede4177fff0d84a044482\">Microsoft<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/?tag=reviewgeek-20\">Amazon Web Services<\/a>\u00a0(AWS), <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/us.alibabacloud.com\/\">Alibaba<\/a>, and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cloud.google.com\/gcp\/\">Google<\/a>, have the resources to build data centers carefully positioned around the globe. They are sited strategically to address the issue of data sovereignty. Smaller vendors may only be able to offer a choice of one or two data centers. If they are using one of the major players for their infrastructure they may only have access to a single data center.<\/p>\n<p>Building data centers to satisfy the geographical requirements of your customers might be a sensible business move, but it doesn\u2019t mean all of your data sovereignty issues have been solved. In 2013 the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation\">FBI<\/a> issued a warrant to Microsoft for emails relating to a case they were pursuing.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft refused, pointing out that\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/2703\">Section 2703<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/part-I\/chapter-121\">Stored Communications Act<\/a>\u00a0(SCA) could not compel American companies to produce data stored in servers outside the United States. The emails were stored on servers hosted in Microsoft\u2019s data center in Dublin. Extracting the emails and handing them over would have breached the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Data_Protection_Directive\">European Data Protection Directive<\/a>, the forerunner to the GDPR.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft argued the request for the emails should be made to the Irish Government using the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/treaty-document\/107th-congress\/9?s=1&amp;r=13\">U.S.-Ireland Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty<\/a>\u00a0(MLAT), just as if the data were stored on paper in Ireland. Microsoft lost their case, <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ealed, and won the appeal.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. government duly launched its own appeal. While the case was being prepared Congress passed the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/115th-congress\/house-bill\/4943\">Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data<\/a>, or CLOUD act. A new warrant was raised under the CLOUD Act and the previous warrant, cases, and appeals were dropped as a new warrant was issued under the CLOUD act.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the SCA, the CLOUD act unambiguously compels a U.S. company to hand over data and information in its \u201cpossession, custody, or control, regardless of whether such communication, record, or other information is located <em>within or outside of the United States<\/em>.\u201d That sits in direct opposition to the principles and requirements of the GDPR and it flies in the face of data sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve already seen the start of the backlash against this type of broad data gathering. It was the ability of the U.S. government and its security agencies to be able to ask any U.S. company to hand over data that caused the demise of the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.privacyshield.gov\/welcome\">EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks<\/a>. A case was brought to the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/europa.eu\/european-union\/about-eu\/institutions-bodies\/court-justice_en\">Court of Justice of the European Union<\/a>\u00a0that said the privacy of EU citizens couldn\u2019t be upheld if U.S. companies could be compelled to hand over their personal data. The\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/curia.europa.eu\/jcms\/upload\/docs\/application\/pdf\/2020-07\/cp200091en.pdf\">case was upheld<\/a>\u00a0and the Privacy Shield agreement was invalidated.<\/p>\n<p>The CLOUD act extends the reach of those data requests to any servers owned by a U.S. company, regardless of where they are in the world. Needless to say, that\u2019s not an attractive option for European organizations bound by the strictures of the GDPR.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <strong><em>What Does Schrems 2 Mean For Cloud Computing?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-gaia-x-initiative\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_GAIA-X_Initiative\"><\/span>The GAIA-X Initiative<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>On Oct.\u00a015, 2020, 27 EU member states agreed to work together toward a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu\/en\/news\/towards-next-generation-cloud-europe\">European cloud federation initiative<\/a>\u00a0known as GAIA-X. The initiative is a collaboration between the European Commission, the signed-up member states, and around 100 companies and organizations including\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telekom.com\/en\">Deutsche Telekom AG<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.db.com\/index?language_id=1\">Deutsche Bank AG<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/new.siemens.com\/us\/en.html\">Siemens<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bosch.com\/\">Bosch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The objective is to bring the flow and storage of European data under greater European control. Given that dependence on the cloud is only going to increase, this makes sense. GAIA-X understands that the geography of the cloud matters immensely for data sovereignty. A predominantly US-based cloud makes it difficult or even impossible for European individuals and organizations to understand how their data will be safeguarded, managed, and governed.<\/p>\n<p>What started out as a mainly Franco-German project now has a broad European backing and support. It is aiming high. Plans are afoot for a European federated cloud with trusted data flows, storage, and consistent data protection legislation. The realization of the project would require the reuse of existing cloud infrastructure, the adoption of new technologies, and a lot of new interworking.<\/p>\n<p>There will be an \u201capplication layer\u201d where users and consumers will interact with services they have subscribed to. The infrastructure layer will consist of interconnected data centers with flexible and dynamic bandwidths. A European cloud has been mooted before. Nothing ever materialized, despite millions of dollars being pumped into projects like\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cloudwatt\">CloudWatt<\/a>. GAIA-X is still in its infancy. Proof of concept ideas are due by the end of 2021. Although the actual design is barely more than a set of ideals, project goals and benefits have been established.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Combining Investment<\/strong>: Pooling private, national, and EU investment to deliver competitive, green, and secure cloud infrastructures and services.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Defining a Common Approach<\/strong>: The European \u201capproach to federating cloud capacities\u201d will lay out one set of joint technical solutions and policy norms. This will provide rules and guidelines for data centers that want to join the European cloud. It\u2019s a sort of plug-and-play for data centers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Driving Security and Interoperability<\/strong>: Pushing security and data sovereignty is expected to be a driver in the adoption of the GAIA-X cloud of energy-efficient data centers and services. Europe wants to drive the uptake of the cloud in organizations of all sizes, and in particular small and medium enterprises, start-ups, and the public sector.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"the-big-boys-want-in-too\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Big_Boys_Want_In_Too\"><\/span>The Big Boys Want In Too<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Despite this sounding like something that the current cloud giants would see as a threatening competition,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/blogs\/publicsector\/what-next-europes-data-revolution-aws-joins-gaia-x-initiative\/?tag=reviewgeek-20\">AWS<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/eupolicy\/2020\/11\/26\/microsoft-announced-as-a-member-of-GAIA-X\/\">Microsoft<\/a>, and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N_uuiVdgHXQ\">Google<\/a>\u00a0have all joined the project.<\/p>\n<p>Max Peterson, Vice President of International Public Sector at Amazon Web Services, says their support is driven by \u201c\u2026ensuring the highest levels of security and data protection, respect for data sovereignty, and access to world-leading <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kasper Klynge, Microsoft\u2019s Vice President European Government Affairs has said Microsoft\u2019s \u201c\u2026commitment to privacy is longstanding and unwavering,\u201d and that \u201c\u2026digital sovereignty and self-determination are critical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019d be easy to be cynical and say these organizations are jumping on the bandwagon because they don\u2019t want the negative press if they\u2019re not seen to enthusiastically uphold the principles behind the initiative, or that they can\u2019t afford to be cut out of any opportunities that may arise. They cannot let a project of this size roll by without their engagement if their competitors have a seat at the table. And of course, Europe is a massive market and they don\u2019t want to alienate Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services didn\u2019t get where they are by being charities. Whatever they do\u2014however altruistic\u2014always yields some sort of benefit for them, even if it is just good PR. But at the same time, these organizations are the best at what they do and they don\u2019t like being involved in high-profile failures.<\/p>\n<p>They bring invaluable expertise, experience, and resources to GAIA-X. Let\u2019s hope the many cooks don\u2019t spoil the broth, and that something tangible is actually delivered.\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudsavvyit.com\/10708\/what-is-gaia-x-and-why-are-aws-google-and-azure-involved\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#What is GAIA-X and Why Are AWS, Google, and Azure Involved? \u2013 CloudSavvy IT&#8221; Shutterstock\/ Fractal Pictures GAIA-X is a European initiative intended to provide a unified ecosystem of cloud services and data centers governed by EU data laws. So why are American cloud companies rushing to sign up? Data Sovereignty Data sovereignty is a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.cloudsavvyit.com\/p\/uploads\/2021\/04\/42f90890.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}