Orange has purchased Dome, a technology platform developed by French company Obvios, for an undisclosed price. The move is part of the operator's strategy to enhance its secure communications capabilities for the defence and critical infrastructure sectors, with the development team now integrated into Orange's workforce.

Dome operates as a cloud-native software platform that enables organisations to establish secure and sovereign communications networks suited to critical operational environments. The acquisition represents a continuation of Orange's strategic push into defence and critical infrastructure, building on earlier initiatives including the establishment of its Defence & Security division and the introduction of Orange Drone 360.

Through Dome, Orange is extending its private 5G offerings, giving organisations greater autonomy over their network infrastructure, security posture and operational resilience. The platform delivers a secure private 5G core that permits organisations to construct and manage their own mobile networks without dependence on public telecom systems, while maintaining interoperability with existing infrastructure.

The platform targets multiple sectors with specific operational requirements:

  • Defence
  • Civil security
  • Energy
  • Transport
  • Emergency services

Practical applications span a broad spectrum of use cases. These encompass unmanned aerial vehicle and autonomous system deployment, military installations, rapidly deployable networks in isolated or contested regions, surveillance systems at ports and airports, and continuous monitoring of essential infrastructure assets.

This acquisition marks a strategic milestone in strengthening and specialising our offerings and expertise, particularly in hybrid network solutions. It accelerates our development in private 5G, enabling us to deliver sovereign, innovative solutions tailored to the security and operational needs of defense and critical infrastructure operators in Europe.

Nassima Auvray, Head of Defense and Security, Orange Business

Source: Mobile Europe