- Go-ahead given for open-source reference implementation
- Foundations are being laid for joint data processing and data utilisation for many industries
- 9-page white paper explains Gaia-X Federation Services
Brussels, 20 December 2021 – Gaia-X Milestone: Federation services have now launched its implementation phase, with the first partner companies drawing up the technical specifications by January 2022.
Starting with the Compliance set of services, all Federation Services will be launched by the end of 2021 establishing the Gaia-X ecosystem technical basis.
The Federation Services are created as open-source services, offering all interested parties the opportunity to become part of the new digital ecosystem. Gaia-X will avail the program code for all to see, through the GitLab platform.
“The implementation of the Federation Services is a pivotal milestone for Gaia-X,” said Pierre Gronlier, Chief Technology Officer of Gaia-X AISBL. “The Federation Services provide the foundation for trust, interoperability and for all the necessary participants to self-determine their level of autonomy.”
The features and benefits of Federation Services at the core of Gaia-X are explained in our recent white paper published here. Its executive summary is also available here.
Basis for a reference implementation:
Francesco Bonfiglio, CEO, Gaia-X highlights “Gaia-X Federation Services (GXFS) empower each of the Federations to work together operationally with efficiency and security. Each Federation can use the GXFS toolbox to build apps and services that match requirements in their respective Federation and achieve interoperability between different ecosystems,” he added.
The Federation Services will link existing data and infrastructure ecosystems. Companies benefit from full sovereignty and control over their growing data volumes and decide independently the platforms and cloud resources to use for partner collaboration.
The result is a federated and interoperable overall ecosystem enabling participants to confidently use data and services across sector-specific data spaces. All data and service offers are transparent and the dependencies on individual providers, the so-called lock-in effects, are reduced.
Andreas Weiss, Head of Digital Business Models, eco Association and the Head of Gaia-X Federation Services continues: “With the implementation of the Federation Services, we have come a big step closer to our goal of collaborative data processing and data utilisation. We will be creating an open-source reference implementation over the next few months. This will be available as a basis for specialised services in various industries. Use cases include decentralised processing mechanisms for data products and data services at the edge, such as for Smart City or Smart Mobility use cases.”
Open-source services create the basis for Gaia-X:
The following four services will provide the technical foundation for building federated and sovereign Gaia-X data infrastructures starting in mid-2022:
- Identity & Trust Services include authentication and authorisation
- Credential management, decentralised identity management
- A verification of analogue credentials.
The Federated Catalogue bundles all services offered by the providers and enables Gaia-X users to find the best possible offer for them. The Data Sovereignty Services regulate the negotiation of data contracts over the network and thus enable the enforcement of data usage policies. The Compliance Services enable the verification of the conformity of the individual services offered with Gaia-X principles such as cyber security or data protection, as well as their continuous monitoring.
An integration layer was also specified in addition to the four Federation Services. For instance, the Gaia-X Portal supports, the onboarding and accreditation of participants, as well as the orchestration and provisioning of services. The project partners have defined lots for the implementation of these services, which are now being awarded in an EU-wide tender.
