KTH creates cloud services that strengthen Europe's technological independence
The OpenCUBE project is part of the European Chips Act, a strategy to make Europe more competitive in the semiconductor industry.
“It means that we are creating independence from both the US and China and providing a shift for users to be able to use something that is in Europe, which is not possible today,” says Ivy Peng, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, who coordinates the project from KTH and leads a consortium of researchers from across Europe.
Early last year, researchers at KTH started working on a full software stack for cloud services based on European processors with ARM and RISC-V chips made in Europe with open-source code.
The OpenCUBE project is about creating a cloud system that securely manages and stores large amounts of data where users don't have to spend much money on buying and maintaining equipment.
OpenCUBE will be of great importance for the individual users of a cloud system and for Europe as a whole. The European Commission also wants to create independence from giants like Amazon and Google, which currently dominate the market for cloud services.
Energy-efficient system
The project started in January 2023, and researchers have already created a prototype system, which is being hosted and tested by HPE in Grenoble, where software is being developed.
The European Green Deal is an essential aspect of the project: creating an energy-efficient system.
“Throughout this project, we are focusing on energy. We want to create something that does not consume large amounts of energy, which is often an aspect when talking about large cloud services,” says Ivy Peng.
The project is about creating a cloud service and includes critical applications from European weather forecasting services, machine learning and drug discovery workflows. The project will be completed in 2026.
Text: Emelie Smedslund ( emeliesm@kth.se )