In a joint interview, Marc Royer, Sales Director at Dell Technologies, and Christophe Lesur, Managing Director of Cloud Temple, discuss their strategic collaboration and the award of SecNumCloud qualification. The ANSSI's precious label was obtained by Cloud Temple in May 2024 for its OpenShit PaaS - a first in France - and for its object storage, which is based on Dell's Elastic Cloud Storage solution.
Why was this new SecNumCloud qualification important?
Christophe Lesur: This was essential for our customers. One of the criticisms levelled at trusted cloud players compared with hyperscalers concerned their portfolio of services. DINUM and ANSSI had drawn up a roadmap asking market players to develop certain services, in particular containerisation and object storage. These two elements are now essential to support our customers' digital transformation.
Marc Royer: This qualification meets a growing demand from the market. With the publication of the IA Act and new regulations, companies are increasingly looking to entrust their data to trusted players so that they can concentrate on their core business.
What does SecNumCloud qualification entail?
Christophe Lesur: It's important to understand the difference with conventional certification. ISO 27001 certification involves a few weeks' work. For SecNumCloud, we invested two and a half years, mobilised around thirty full-time staff and committed over €7 million, mainly in payroll costs. The standards are extremely demanding, which explains why there are so few qualified players on the market.
Who are the customers interested in these services?
Christophe Lesur: Contrary to popular belief, we have more customers from the private sector than the public sector. Industries, the energy sector, defence... These players are looking for the guarantee of a trusted third party, ANSSI, to meet their own regulatory obligations, particularly with the arrival of NIS2 and DORA.
Our core business is software development. We develop solutions that enable the different building blocks to work together: computing, storage, networking, containerisation, while respecting the state of the art in terms of security.
Marc Royer: We have observed that companies are increasingly aware of the challenges of data sovereignty. SecNumCloud qualification provides a concrete response to these concerns.
Why this partnership between Dell Technologies and Cloud Temple?
Christophe Lesur: We appreciated the technical approach of the Dell teams. In our very specific business - there are less than a dozen of us in France and only 4 are SecNumCloud qualified - it's crucial to have partners who really understand our challenges. Dell ECS object storage technology perfectly met our customers' needs, particularly with its S3 compatibility, while satisfying ANSSI requirements.
Marc Royer: Our collaboration goes beyond simply supplying technology. We support Cloud Temple in its drive to innovate and offer its customers ever more secure, high-performance services.
What are the prospects for Dell Technologies and Cloud Temple?
Christophe Lesur: We're working on a number of fronts, including artificial intelligence and PAMS qualification, scheduled for the end of 2025. Our philosophy is clear: all Temple Cloud services should be qualified, because we are convinced that this brings real value to our customers.
We are currently experiencing a major revolution, comparable to the emergence of the Internet or smartphones. AI in particular will profoundly transform our businesses and society. Our role is to support our customers and employees in this transformation, while guaranteeing data security and sovereignty.
Marc Royer: This collaboration is perfectly in line with Dell Technologies' strategy, particularly through our Dell AI Factory. This end-to-end AI solution aims to support human progress and make technology accessible, while ensuring that it is used responsibly.
This partnership between Dell Technologies and Cloud Temple is a perfect illustration of the dynamics of the French trusted cloud market, where technological innovation must go hand in hand with the highest standards of security and sovereignty.