Gaia-X and Internet exchange operator DE-CIX have developed a prototype interconnection infrastructure to provide automatic and virtual access to networks.
Dubbed Project Tellus, the effort, that is led by DE-CIX, has now completed its implementation phase. It covers the entire supply chain of interconnection services and integrates offerings from various providers based on the decentralized and distributed data infrastructure of Gaia-X.
Gaia-X is a European public-private initiative aiming to create a standardized and interoperable digital ecosystem. Included within the offering is a "levels" ranking of compliance with Gaia-X's guidelines, ranging from "Standard Compliance" to "Label Level 3" which is the highest.
Project Tellus was launched in 2022 with the goal of providing network infrastructure that will enable the development and operation of applications, including AI, real-time data processing, or distributed software systems.
DE-CIX was awarded €8.75 million ($9.1m) in funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) for the development.
Tellus uses open-source software to automate the process needed when implementing business-critical applications in distributed IT systems and also ensures specific connectivity requirements.
“Since Tellus registers the products of all participants in a standardized way and stores the network nodes in a structured manner in a graph database, interconnection services can be composed end-to-end via a weighted path search,” says Christoph Dietzel, head of product & research at DE-CIX.
“With the successful completion of the implementation phase and the proof-of-concept demo, we have not only demonstrated the technical feasibility of our Gaia-X compliant interconnection infrastructure but have also set an important milestone for the future of secure, sovereign, and collaborative data processing.”
DE-CIX is an Internet Exchange provider, offering services in close to 60 locations across Europe, Africa, North and South America, the Middle East, and Asia.
Gaia-X has also worked on developing "data spaces" as one of its key offerings. They are a data relationship between trusted partners who adhere to the same standards and guidelines regarding storage and sharing, operating mostly within a specific vertical.
In November 2024, DCD reported that Aerospace giant Airbus would be moving all of its data-sharing capabilities to a Gaia-X data space.
