The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has joined Gaia-X, the Brussels-based Association promoting the establishment of a European federated data and cloud infrastructure. As the first media organization to participate in the Gaia-X project, the EBU will promote the creation of dedicated data spaces for media and gather media-specific requirements for the Gaia-X federated infrastructure and service catalogue.
As EBU Members and other media companies move more of their services and applications to the cloud, they are concerned about vendor lock-in, data sovereignty, GDPR compliance and environmental sustainability. Media organizations also face technical and business challenges such as real-time and large file transfers, semantic data interoperability, and cost effectiveness. The EBU promotes solutions that can help to address these issues.
“As a Gaia-X member, EBU can now federate media needs at a European scale,” says EBU Director of Technology & Innovation Antonio Arcidiacono. “We will define use cases and consolidate media-specific requirements, enabling media companies to adopt competitive multi-cloud solutions, including at network edges, that can easily be interconnected, configured and decommissioned, and that guarantee a secured and controlled access to media data. This also has the potential to generate new business opportunities across the entire media supply chain.”
The Gaia-X Association (AISBL), aims to ensure European companies can access cloud platforms that are secure, interoperable and energy efficient, and that guarantee data privacy and sovereignty. It also seeks to foster a cloud ecosystem aligned with European values and laws, enabling vertical and horizontal chains where data can be easily exchanged but still controlled within trusted data spaces.
“We are happy to welcome EBU as a Gaia-X member and work together on a seamless direction with shared values of transparency, openness, data protection and security,” states Francesco Bonfiglio, the Gaia-X Association CEO.
EBU is proactive in a variety of global standardization organisations, such as ITU-R and SMPTE. As a member of Gaia-X, EBU will also support the adoption of standards and ontologies for data and metadata to help further unlock the power of data for media companies.
EBU also has a track record in engaging with entities to represent the interests of the media industry, aiming to shape the technologies that underpin the industry. It was instrumental in founding and hosts the DVB Project, HbbTV and 5G-MAG, for example.
To learn more on Gaia-X latest advancements, please visit the main site www.Gaia-X.eu. To share your views and contribute to the EBU activities, please join the EBU’s relevant working group by reaching out to Lucille Verbaere.
About Gaia-X
Gaia-X brings together companies, associations, and research institutions to create a trustworthy digital ecosystem. Their international project is designed to simplify collating and sharing data by creating dedicated data spaces to serve critical industries. Most importantly, the users retain sovereignty over their data. With over 1,800 participants, Gaia-X has created a federated system to link cloud users together. For more information, visit www.gaia-x.eu.
About EBU
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is the world’s leading alliance of public service media (PSM). We have 115 member organizations in 56 countries and have an additional 31 Associates in Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas. Our Members operate nearly 2,000 television, radio and online channels and services, and offer a wealth of content across other platforms. Together they reach an audience of more than one billion people around the world, broadcasting in more than 160 languages. We operate Eurovision and Euroradio services.
At the EBU, we strive to secure a sustainable future for public service media. We provide our Members with world-class content from news to sports and music, and build on our founding ethos of solidarity and co-operation to create a centre for learning and sharing.