• Unlike traditional cloud solutions, the Telco Edge/Cloud combines computing power with network intelligence to offer value-added services, such as QoS management. This is crucial for controlling industrial robots or developing smart cities, which require ultra-low latency and high reliability.
• By processing data locally, this innovation guarantees the security and location of sensitive information and reduces data transit costs associated with its use, including for AI. By extending local capabilities, Edge Federation paves the way for a mesh of European virtual infrastructures.
Using a hyperscaler’s cloud service for business applications has many limitations. For critical applications like industrial robotics or urban flow management, companies increasingly need to deploy 
small, specialized, and customizable AI models on-site. They also want to enhance their local learning capabilities. However, they currently lack clear visibility into network availability, which is essential for application and model performance. “Only an operator can provide the necessary network information to guarantee quality of service and deterministic performance,” explains Rida Zouaoui, Head of Access Networks Standardization at Orange. “Customers need to control the location of their data flows, and the cloud should no longer be limited to centralized storage. With the rise of AI, they are also looking to limit the costs associated with data transit.” This is one of the many reasons that led Orange and four other European operators—Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, and Vodafone—to create the Edge Federation. “The goal is to offer a perfectly harmonized service for edge computing across Europe. This isn’t just a solution that combines computing power and storage, but one that leverages these services as well as the power of the federation members’ networks.” The objective: to create a one-stop shop for large accounts that need to deploy applications throughout Europe.
With Edge Federation, a partnership with an operator in one country provides access to the same services in all other countries while keeping data processing local.
Facilitating Application Deployments Across Europe
The idea is simple: instead of sending data across the Atlantic, computing power is brought closer to the user, directly within the network infrastructure. “It’s a form of cloud roaming that provides the same application availability to an industrial company that, for example, has factories with similar operational needs in three different European countries. Normally, they would have to negotiate with each operator, which is laborious. With Edge Federation, a partnership with an operator in one country provides coverage and the same services in all other countries,” clarifies Rida Zouaoui. Edge Federation addresses three major challenges: deployment simplicity, application ubiquity, and resilience, explains Marianne Mohali, Head of the Networks Strategy Department at Orange: “If a server is unavailable in one country, the partner in a neighboring country can take over immediately.” This approach offers a hybrid solution, positioned between reliance on a single hyperscaler subject to energy constraints and geopolitical pressures, and deploying physical servers on customer sites.
A Secure and Sovereign Solution for AI
Rida Zouaoui states: “By keeping customer data on European soil, we are meeting a demand for sovereignty.” This sovereignty is a growing need for European companies. For instance, a European aircraft manufacturer with various industrial sites would benefit from working with trusted partners and ensuring, for regulatory reasons, that its data does not end up in China or the United States. “In Germany, for example, Deutsche Telekom has created an AI Factory to ensure that AI learns and processes information locally, where it is consumed, with the highest security.” Orange and its European partners have already conducted real-world tests to ensure these systems can communicate and interconnect. “At Mobile World Congress, we are demonstrating that Orange and its European partners are no longer just providing connectivity, but a truly intelligent and unified platform for all of Europe.”
This text has been translated by an artificial intelligence.
Marianne Mohali
Rida Zouaoui
