The NATO Information and Communication Agency (NCIA) has just granted a contract to Thales and Proximus, within a new consortium, to modernize the IT infrastructure of its business network. Behind the sobriety of the announcement, an anchoring of the alliance is drawn (finally) in managed cloud solutions, carried by European manufacturers.
This partnership aims to deploy an infrastructure as a service (IAAS) and user devices as a service (DAAS), hosted on a certified cloud, and accompanied by advanced cybersecurity mechanisms. The displayed objective is to guarantee fluid connectivity and continuous performance on all five NCIA sites, while strengthening the safety, compatibility and resilience of systems.
“Thales reaffirms its commitment to strengthen NATO’s digital resilience, providing secure, efficient and sustainable IT infrastructure,” said Alex Bottero, vice-president of networks and infrastructure systems at Thales.
For its part, Proximus will ensure the deployment of 5,000 secure multi-domain laptops, the modernization of the Wi-Fi networks of The Hague and Braine-l’Alleud, and the supply of broadband connectivity to its own cloud. The Belgian supplier, long perceived as a local telecom operator, thus consolidates his position in critical ecosystems, at the intersection of telecoms, ITs and defense.
“This strategic project reflects our commitment to providing solutions for state-of-the-art connectivity, mobility and security,” said Anne-Sophie Lotgering, Chief Enterprise Market Officer in Proximus.
Externalization under control
The NCIA, which centralizes the digital functions of NATO, adopts here an outsourced architecture with high contractual requirement, supervised by detailed and opposable performance indicators (SLA). The stake is not limited to technology but engages the way in which the Alliance designs its operational autonomy in an increasingly interconnected environment.
This approach reflects a renewed reading of digital sovereignty, which is no longer based solely on the total control of infrastructure, but on the ability to guarantee its security, scalability and interoperability. In a context marked by cyber pressure, technological fragmentation and geopolitical competition, this contract illustrates a desire to anchor critical functions in recognized European industrial ecosystems.
Towards a new geography of the military cloud
If NATO has already used North American suppliers for IT services, this choice in favor of a duo Thales-Proximus indicates a rebalancing, at least partial, in infrastructure arbitrations. It also highlights an industrial landscape in recomposition, where European companies strengthen their capacity to send sensitive environments by combining cybersecurity, sovereign cloud and integrated services.
The project also opens the way to a shared digital defense model, based on certified technological blocks but operated in shared manner. This approach could extend to other agencies or missions within NATO, in a logic of secure standardization.
