As a Belgian cloud provider, Whitesky.cloud is taking on the major American hyperscalers. A federated cloud model aims to demonstrate that this is also possible with more limited resources.
In a cloud sector dominated by American hyperscalers, it seems difficult for a Belgian provider to compete. Yet that is exactly what Whitesky.cloud aims to achieve. With a federated cloud model, it wants to offer an alternative to hyperscalers in both private and public cloud environments. Whitesky.cloud therefore delivers what makes the cloud so attractive: it is not necessarily the infrastructure, but the cloud platform that sits on top of it. Anyone with infrastructure available can thus become a cloud provider.
The Lochristi-based company was founded in 2020 as a restart of another company that had to close its doors during the COVID pandemic, says Hans Van Linschoten, one of the two founders. “I was a customer myself and wanted to use the technology to build a distributed cloud in Africa.”
Today, Whitesky.cloud’s cloud spans eighteen cloud zones in seven countries, but Van Linschoten’s ambitions are not yet satisfied. “We want to build a cloud that stretches from Northern Europe to South Africa. But we remain a purely Belgian company, supported by private investors, without venture capital.”
My cloud is your cloud
To compete as a small player against the industry giants, Whitesky.cloud takes a completely different approach. Van Linschoten strongly believes in the federated cloud model, where clouds from different operators support one another. The company draws its inspiration for this from the telecom sector.
“We provide a stack that can be used both publicly and privately, entirely as a managed model. This enables virtual cloud operators, who use our capacity to offer their own cloud services under a white label. That’s also where our name comes from, although there is sometimes confusion with whisky cloud,” jokes Van Linschoten. “This model is often applied in the telecom sector, such as by Mobile Vikings, and we are bringing it to the cloud sector.”
As a provider, you don’t have to be big to play a role in the cloud sector. Van Linschoten: “If you have your own domain, you can provide cloud services without needing your own capacity. We can set up a cloud at any location, managed from a common environment. Just like the internet, where all parties involved contribute so that we can use it.”
It’s not just small players who are hitching a ride on Whitesky’s cloud. “American Mobile, one of the largest telecom operators in the US, delivers software via our cloud. They run it in their own data centers, but it is our software and service. Our cloud is their cloud.”
Geopolitical tensions as a lever
Whitesky.cloud wants to play its trump cards to the full in Europe. “Geopolitical tensions create awareness that it is not wise to leave your fate in the hands of American parties,” states Van Linschoten. “Due to geopolitical pressure, companies want to move away from them. We try to convince companies that we can take over completely. For private cloud as well, we can be an alternative to VMware. Within five years, we want to build a network with partners that allows us to cover Europe completely.”
“Because we provide a critical part of the IT infrastructure, it might take a bit longer to convince larger companies that we, as a smaller player, can offer a solution on the same scale. But every large company started small once. We recently won an important tender that will put us at the table with the big players,” says Van Linschoten proudly.
Big ambitions do not mean that Whitesky.cloud will overreach. “We opt for a ‘lean and mean’ approach, with a small team of skilled people who have been here for years. Let us be the odd one out; we don’t need to become a large corporate. Customers appreciate being able to get someone on the phone. But our solution runs stably enough that not much support is needed.”
Telecom sector strikes back
The fact that Whitesky.cloud is increasingly making its mark on the European stage is also evident from its recent joining of Project Silva, an initiative supported by the Linux Foundation and major European telecom companies such as Orange, Ericsson, Vodafone, and Nokia to develop an ‘open telecom cloud’. “This is an interesting development that aligns with desires for sovereignty and independence,” says Van Linschoten. “Detaching yourself from hyperscalers doesn’t happen overnight. But you can start with small workloads.”
According to Van Linschoten, the telecom sector can play an important role in this. “They have the network and the coverage, both for a ‘normal’ cloud and an ‘AI cloud’. The network brings you to your location. Hyperscalers’ data centers don’t do this. Distributing this across multiple parties is much more efficient, energy-efficient, and sovereign. It’s time for telcos to dare to ‘bite back’ at big cloud players. Now they can.”
Van Linschoten therefore does not want to talk about a European backlog. “I think this is viewed too much through an American lens, as if everything is already set in stone. But developments brought about by AI will still fundamentally change the playing field. Developments like DeepSeek show that you can also make a difference with limited resources. The AI battle will eventually be won in distributed environments. Big is not always necessary,” he states.
Data over the fence
Van Linschoten wants to reiterate that message. “We have allowed the giants to become giants. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the hyperscalers: they are good companies, but they are in a dangerous legal playing field. They cannot guarantee true sovereignty because they must respect American laws, no matter how much PR they throw at it. This is gradually making us aware in Europe that we must stand on our own two feet.”
Companies will have to think carefully about where and with whom they house their cloud environment, and which AI models they bring in. Van Linschoten: “There is already so much important data from European companies in Anthropic and ChatGPT that we aren’t even aware of. Data is just thrown over the fence without thinking about the consequences. AI on public infrastructure is possible, but then think carefully about what needs to stay inside.”
Whitesky.cloud proves that a small, local company can make a difference in a market dominated by large international players. With a focus on sovereignty, local roots, and a flexible cloud model, the company offers an alternative for organizations that do not want to be dependent on American cloud providers. “Independence is achieved in small steps. Let us know what you want, and we will help you think it through,” concludes Van Linschoten.
We have allowed the giants to become giants. No matter how much PR they throw at it: they cannot guarantee true sovereignty.
Hans Van Linschoten, co-founder Whitesky.cloud
In the ‘ICT in Belgium’ series, we focus on local, Belgian players in the sector. Do you want to discover more Belgian specialists? Here you will find all the interviews from the series.