Capgemini And Orange Announce The Launch Of Commercial  Activities Of Bleu, Their Future “Cloud De Confiance” Platform

By Francois Giudice, Bureau Chief, France

Capgemini and Orange announced Monday that Bleu, a company they  have jointly created, is now engaging with select French public and private organizations to  ensure that they are ready for the migration, once the first services start to go live on the platform  from the end of 2024. Bleu aims to obtain the SecNumCloud 3.2 qualification in 2025 for its  services to offer “cloud de confiance” 1 based on Microsoft technology.

Capgemini and Orange launched Bleu in a strategic partnership with Microsoft, with the aim of meeting the  specific cloud needs of the French State, public agencies, hospitals, regional authorities, Vital Importance  Operators (OIVs) and Essential Service Operators (OSEs), enabling them to use Microsoft 365 and Microsoft  Azure services.

This offering is unique to the French market, based on specific technology developed by

Microsoft and will enable clients to accelerate their digital ambitions while harnessing the full power of the  Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure services.

After receiving validation from the European Commission in 2023, Bleu is now launching its commercial  activities. CEO of Bleu, Jean Coumaros and his team are engaging with public organizations and private  companies interested in Bleu’s forthcoming “cloud de confiance” services and its future ecosystem of  partners. In order to meet with strong demand from an array of French organizations, the coming months  will be used to prepare their migration, carry out tests and pilots with clients, and to ensure their successful  onboarding on Bleu. The Bleu cloud platform will be launched on a set of geographically distributed data  centers across France, meeting the necessary high standards of resilience and availability.

“I’m proud of the work done by the Capgemini, Orange and Microsoft teams to realize our shared ambition  of being able to offer, through Bleu, a solution that will enable clients to leverage the full power of Microsoft  cloud services in a ‘cloud de confiance’,” comments Chief Executive Officer of the Capgemini  Group Aiman Ezzat,. “Bleu brings a unique combination of security and service benefits, including the widest range of  technological innovations, enabling French organizations to accelerate their digital ambitions through the  coming years.”

CEO of Orange, Christel Heydemann commented: “Together with our partner Capgemini, we are very  pleased to announce today the launch of activities of our joint venture Bleu. As a leading player in the digital  transformation of businesses in France, Orange is aware of the specific challenges in terms of data protection  and sovereignty for critical infrastructure operators and public institutions. We are confident that Bleu will  meet these needs by providing a cloud solution based on Microsoft services while being fully compliant with

the standards set by French authorities in its “trusted cloud” doctrine. Bleu is now fully operational and is  actively working with its future customers to prepare for their migration to the platform.”

 “We are proud to partner with Bleu to bring Microsoft 365 productivity solutions and Microsoft Azure services  to their forthcoming ‘cloud de confiance’ platform,” said Executive Vice President and Chief  Commercial Officer at Microsoft Judson Althoff,. “With this strategic partnership, we are supporting France’s digital  transformation efforts for its long-term success by enabling efficient and modern services.”