Brussels, Belgium, 3 March 2022 – The implementation phase of the Gaia-X Federation Services (GXFS) is now launched. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) project has now awarded the relevant contracts.
The GXFS project will be working with implementation partners T-Systems International, DAASI International, BigchainDB, Fraunhofer AISEC, ecsec and XLAB, the technical specifications defined as of last year are now being implemented.
The open source code to be developed is available via the GitLab platform.
Implementation lots in the works:
- Authentication and authorisation
- Credential management
- Core catalogue functions, data contract service, data exchange logging
- Continuous Automated Monitoring
- Notarisation
- Portal
- Orchestration
Implementation phase expected to be completed by mid 2022
By mid of 2022, the implementation phase is expected to be completed delivering the federated ecosystem envisioned by Gaia-X. Ernst Stöckl-Pukall, Head of Division for Digitalisation and Industry 4.0, German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action highlighted “The Gaia-X Federation Services (GXFS) are an essential part of a functioning Gaia-X ecosystem. Through the development of open-source code for core service functions, GXFS will equip Gaia-X Federations with the toolbox to start to be operational”. He continues “This is a necessary step to fulfill Gaia-X’s value proposition to bring actors together, to develop the next generation of data infrastructure and shape an open, transparent and secure digital ecosystem. This ultimately fosters digital sovereignty for European industries. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action supports the important project and the work being done in the GXFS context.”
Earlier this year, Francesco Bonfiglio, CEO, Gaia-X highlighted “Gaia-X Federation Services (GXFS) empower each of the Federations to work together operationally with efficiency and security. Bringing to life a federated system this year is fully aligned with our 5 year roadmap, whereby year 2 relates to the adoption year to achieve interoperability between different ecosystems.
Pierre Gronlier, CTO, Gaia-X stressed the importance of the current milestone already reached and how a federated system will in fact seal the deal to secure full trust, interoperability and the necessary autonomy for all the necessary participants.
GXFS enables innovation driving artificial intelligence, smart city and smart mobility
“The Gaia-X project’s open source software modules, which will be available in 2022, will enable innovation based on shared data spaces,” says Andreas Weiss, GXFS project manager and Head of Digital Business Models at eco – Association of the Internet Industry. He also mentions “In this ecosystem, participants share data and services confidently across sector-specific data spaces. All data and service offerings are transparent and dependencies on individual providers, so-called lock-in effects, are reduced.” Based on open source, GXFS will be available for specialised services of different 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.”
Foundation for a federated and sovereign data infrastructure
All activities will be continuously coordinated in cooperation with the Gaia-X Association. This also includes continuous communication means to inform the Gaia-X community and the wider public.
For example, informational and knowledge transfer sessions, such as hackathons, sector data space events, Tech Dive webinars and workshops are underway. White papers, studies and brochures provide background knowledge and highlight the progress made.
Aside from events, Gaia-X plans to deliver a magazine and podcast series, various newsletters on a funding, tech and community level and a series of explainer videos to support further understanding and enhance our impact with the wider community.
