Microsoft and French company Thales have announced their partnership today, June 12, on developing a common Defence Cloud solution for the armed forces. The joint venture will be based on the Azure Stack platform of Microsoft, which is a service-oriented and flexible cloud environment.
The Azure platform will be made entirely cyber secured, with Thales adapting it to military resilience constraints. While Microsoft will be serving as a trusted cloud provider, Thales will serve as a field-proven trusted integrator. Together, they will lead the digital transformation of armed forces in the operations theatre and in the command center.
Thales, being a European leader in defense and cybersecurity is joining Microsoft to complete the world’s first collaboration in offering a complementary solution sufficing various needs of armed forces without compromising security.
Thales and Microsoft cloud solution mission is simple, to offer the militaries around the world keeping sensitive data inside their respective infrastructures. Armed forces will have the chance to get the most out of size and scope of Azure Stack, maintaining robust and secure cloud for classified materials, ultimately achieving “maximum flexibility with maximum security”.
Azure Stack will be used as a baseline system, and Thales will integrate its solutions on end-to-end cybersecurity and encryption into the platform. The resulting system will merge Azure and Thales’ functionalities to guarantee data security, reinforcing interoperability and operational excellence.
In the future, Azure Stack will be augmented by Guavus Reflex analytics platform, offering users the capability for real-time analysis of big amounts of data for intelligence gathering. This will further help armed forces in using military IoT apps that will involve various sensor types on the field, and in exchanging data with mobile apps for augmented soldiers.
