Google backs Thales' public cloud services firm

A close up shot of a building with the words Thales displayed at the top
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Thales has announced the launch of its new cloud computing services unit S3NS, developed in partnership with Google.

The news furthers an alliance the French defense electronics supplier forged with Alphabet’s Google last year, in accordance with a French government plan affirming the US’ technological superiority.

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Per reports, S3NS will aid Thale’s in offering state-vetted cloud computing services to store and safeguard the country's most sensitive data.

By and large, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) eclipse the cloud computing market.

However, despite surveillance concerns, the French government has agreed to leverage cloud computing services developed by Google and Microsoft to store France's most sensitive state and corporate data, so long as the data centers are located in France and the services are ‌licensed‌ ‌to‌ ‌French‌ ‌companies.

On this note, S3NS is majority-owned by Thales. “The company will operate three France-based data centres on which Google's vetted and secured cloud services will be run,” confirmed Thales.

Cloud services by S3NS will be available from the second half of 2024, after receiving cyber security agency ANSSI's trusted cloud label.

Bleu, a joint company in the making by Capgemini and Orange, ‌is slated to compete with ‌S3NS.