Last week, the NDS Cloud Programme presented the Design and a working prototype of the sovereign government cloud to experts from government and industry. Participants provided valuable feedback on the design and, according to the programme team, responded positively to the programme’s transparent approach.
Within just 1 year, the programme has delivered both a public design (Dutch) and a functional first version of the sovereign cloud, a milestone considered unique for a government project. The presentations yielded specific technical insights that will help refine the Design, while its core principles were met with a positive response.
‘Tomorrow’s cloud’ within reach
The central message to government and industry was that the cloud of tomorrow will be fundamentally different from the cloud of today. Digital sovereignty creates new requirements for cloud infrastructure and calls for different technical choices.
The working prototype demonstrates that the Design is technically feasible, according to the programme team. Development will continue incrementally, with the solution being tested and refined along the way.
Government partners join testing
Following the presentation, several government parties decided to participate in the Fieldlab (Dutch) testing phase. The NDS Cloud acceleration team noted strong enthusiasm among attendees to collaborate on a sovereign cloud within existing budgets, based on a solid business case.
Since the required solutions are not yet off-the-shelf products, the NDS Cloud Programme actively seeks collaboration with market players.
Continuing dialogue with industry
The NDS Cloud Programme will set out how it plans to involve industry more closely through the announced market consultation (Dutch), which will be published on the TenderNed website. At the close of last week’s meeting, Ron Kolkman, chair of the NDS Cloud acceleration team, challenged the market participants with a thought-provoking question: “What would you do if you were the government?”
