NTT Data has deployed a testbed for a Gaia-X Digital Clearing House in Japan.

NTT Data and Gaia-X have teamed up on the deployment, which is the first outside of Europe.

Gaia-X is a European initiative seeking to establish a federated European cloud platform that is big enough to challenge the market dominance of the US hyperscale providers. To do this, Gaia-X architects aimed to pool the resources of various smaller companies in the market.

Gaia-X Digital Clearing House (GXDCH) is a network of nodes that supports decentralized compliance across the Gaia-X ecosystem, ensuring that it is not centrally operated by the association and is open for use by anyone.

The deployment is part of a data space test bed project led by the University of Tokyo alongside the likes of Toshiba, SoftBank, NTT Data, and NTT Communications. The deployment is currently limited to development and testing.

"We are thrilled to see the Gaia-X Digital Clearing House technology being adopted beyond Europe,” said Ulrich Ahle, CEO of Gaia-X. “This collaboration with NTT DATA is a significant step forward in our mission to support the creation of a truly global, federated digital infrastructure that respects data sovereignty and promotes innovation.”

The Japan deployment is part of Gaia-X's plans to expand its global presence and establish international cooperation.

Launched in 2019, the Gaia-X association has faced challenges in meeting its goals, with issues including 'excessive bureaucracy' and, according to member NextCloud's CEO Frank Karlitschek, sabotage from within by hyperscalers.

In 2021, reports emerged that the initiative was suffering from "chaos and infighting." At that time, member Scaleway announced that it would be withdrawing its membership.

In 2023, Gaia-X established two GXDCH in Europe - one operated by Italy's Aruba, and another by German telco T-Systems.