Thales (TCFP.PA) and Google announced a partnership on Wednesday to provide state-vetted cloud computing services for the storage of some of France’s most sensitive data. The partnership between Thales, Europe’s largest defense electronics provider, and Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) business satisfies a government plan announced in May, under which France recognized the United States technological advantage in the field.
The French government stated at the time that cloud computing services built by Google (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) may be used to store France’s most sensitive governmental and corporate data if the services were licensed to French businesses.
Thales and Google Cloud said in a joint statement that they will form a company in France with Thales as the dominant shareholder. That company will offer all of Google Cloud’s services, but its network and servers will be distinct from those used by regular Google customers.
“The company is going to run Google software on its infrastructure… with layers of security to ensure cybersecurity and protection of data from extraterritorial rules,” said Marc Darmon, head of secure communications and information systems at Thales.
Google and Microsoft, as well as market leader Amazon.com’s (AMZN.O) Amazon Web Services, dominate cloud storage globally, raising concerns in Europe about the potential of US surveillance in the wake of the CLOUD Act’s passage.
To earn a “trusted cloud” label, the Thales-Google alliance will need the approval of France’s cybersecurity watchdog, ANSSI. However, the project’s director, Guillaume Poupard, has already praised it, saying in a statement that it met all of the certification’s requirements.
According to the two organizations, the corporation should be formed in the first half of 2022 and operational by the beginning of 2023. It would compete with Bleu, a joint venture between IT consulting firm Capgemini (CAPP.PA) and telecoms operator Orange (ORAN.PA) that will employ Microsoft’s cloud technologies.
