Orange Business has secured a role as the primary network operator for TESTA-EIRIS (Enhanced Infrastructure for Reliable Interconnectivity and Security), a European Union initiative designed to overhaul how public sector organisations communicate securely across borders.
The project will establish encrypted links between EU institutions, agencies and national administrations, with Orange Business responsible for delivering the underlying network infrastructure. The firm will partner with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Digital Services (DG DIGIT), the body tasked with designing, building and operating the broader system.
According to Orange Business, the network backbone will span at least 12 Points of Presence (PoPs) distributed across five European regions. The architecture combines traditional network infrastructure, cloud connectivity and Virtual Private Network (VPN) protocols to enable secure data exchange between government sites throughout Europe.
The initiative addresses growing concerns about the security and resilience of public sector digital communications. Richard van Wageningen, President for Europe at Orange Business, stated: "As reliance on digital technologies increases and cyber threats continue to evolve, the EU has placed digital trust at the heart of its strategic priorities. Core to the TESTA-EIRIS backbone project is the drive to build a secure, trusted European digital ecosystem. Orange Business is proud to be chosen to deliver this robust, adaptable, and future-proof infrastructure to support the EU's critical needs."
