Arabsat and cloud and managed services company Anexia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for satellite-connected private cloud infrastructure.
The two will bring together satellite communications, private cloud services, and GPU technology services by combining their offerings.
In addition to furthering Arabsat and Anexia's efforts to develop satellite private cloud infrastructure and cloud services including GPU processing and storage, the MoU notes the importance of supporting innovation in the fields of satellite communications and cloud computing.
Alhamedi Alanezi, CEO of Arabsat, said: "We are happy with this cooperation with Anexia, the region’s leader in cloud services, as it comes within our commitment to maintaining Arabsat’s leading position in the satellite sector and digital transformation services.
"Through the memorandum, we seek to enhance cooperation to accelerate our efforts in adopting the secure cloud and modern technological innovations, to provide high-quality satellite communications services across the region covered by our satellite fleet, and in line with international standards."
Anexia is an IT services provider operating in Austria, Germany, and the US. The company offers cloud services, managed hosting, and software development solutions.
Arabsat is an initiative between 21 Arab countries and has a fleet of eight satellites from which the company delivers full spectrum TV and radio broadcast, telecommunications, broadband, data and communications services, as well as Internet services for government and commercial customers around the MENA region.
The company is a Microsoft cloud customer, having signed an MoU with Microsoft Arabia in October 2023. As part of that MoU, the two will establish an innovation lab to develop satellite communications products offerings utilizing cloud and satellite technologies to collect and analyze environmental data.
Last year one of Arabsat's satellites - Badr-6 - experienced an outage due to a thruster issue. The payload was shut off for a few hours, but did not impact customers significantly as the company shifted them to a nearby satellite.
Several organizations are investigating the role that satellites could play in cloud computing. The Italian military is currently exploring the possibility of a high-performance computing cloud with artificial intelligence and storage capacity in space using a constellation of satellites. Italian state-owned aerospace company Leonardo is heading that project.
