OVH and CGI, through its subsidiary CGI France Défense et Spatial, announce the signing of a 30-month multimillion-dollar contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to contribute to the realization of “Digital Earth Observation”, ESA’s information system for Earth observation. It is a strategic and sovereign digital infrastructure, designed to bring together data, services and processing capabilities related to this application.
Digital EO aims to open new uses of satellite data for the scientific community, public entities, companies and citizens, bringing innovations derived from Earth Observation increasingly closer to everyday life.
With more than 500 petabytes of satellite data expected by 2035, efficiently managing this information and fully exploiting its potential represents a growing challenge for future ESA missions, as well as a strategic objective for Europe’s digital sovereignty.
Algorithm development, distribution and governance
To respond to this need, ESA has undertaken Digital EO, a large-scale project aimed at creating a decentralized, scalable and resilient digital system. The goal is to offer a sovereign environment based on a new paradigm to efficiently manage large amounts of heterogeneous data, along with computing and artificial intelligence resources. The system will bring together national and European infrastructures, while supporting the development, distribution and governance of innovative algorithms, applications and services in the scientific, public, commercial and citizen fields.
“Digital EO will allow us to take a step further in the way Earth observation data is managed and used. Together with CGI and OVHcloud, we will develop and manage an innovative and sovereign European system, capable of supporting this ambition and providing lasting support to ESA and European Commission programs such as Copernicus and DestinE,” says Nicolaus Hanowski, Head of EO Mission Management and Ground Segment Department at ESA.
To turn Digital EO into a platform capable of responding to the needs of the future, the use of the cloud is essential. OVHcloud will provide a sovereign and stable cloud platform, which combines computing, storage and networking resources with managed cloud services. The system will initially be implemented in central Europe (in Italy, France and Germany), and will have support services managed from Poland, and may later be expanded to other European countries and Canada. In addition, OVHcloud will actively contribute to the long-term evolution of the system, guaranteeing its performance, resilience and constant alignment with user needs.
Digital EO will constitute the technological and operational core while CGI will be in charge of the ideation and integration phase
«Europe must have full control of the infrastructures that support its most strategic programs. With Digital EO, we put our sovereign cloud expertise at the service of ESA, enabling it to develop innovative solutions to process, store and leverage increasing volumes of Earth observation data, for the benefit of research, industry and operational user communities. All this guaranteeing the highest levels of performance, resilience and security. Our ambition is clear: to create a solid and sovereign European Digital EO, capable of evolving over time at the pace of ESA’s needs and ambitions,” declares Octave Klaba, CEO and founder of OVHcloud.
Scientific development
At the center of this infrastructure, Digital EO will constitute the technological and operational core. CGI will handle the ideation and integration phase, and will contribute to the realization of Digital EO by allowing organizations to manage their data, services and users. In addition, it will offer support to users and developers, contributing to the continuous improvement of the system.
«With Digital EO, we put our experience in the space sector and in critical digital platforms at the service of a strategic ambition for Europe. “By combining our competencies in cybersecurity, data and artificial intelligence, we help ESA create a sovereign, robust and scalable platform, capable of generating lasting value from satellite data and accelerating innovation in the European ecosystem,” concludes Didier Thérond, President of CGI in France.
By pooling infrastructure and investments, Digital EO should accelerate innovation, scientific development and industrialization of services and applications based on Earth observation, while contributing to strengthening European digital sovereignty and preparing future ESA programmes.
