Croix (France) (AFP)

State services have lost "no data" in the fire in March of one of OVHcloud's data centers in Strasbourg, being equipped with back-up mechanisms, assured the company's general manager on Tuesday. on the occasion of a ministerial visit.

In March, following the fire which completely destroyed one of the four OVHcloud "data centers" installed in Strasbourg, and partially affected a second, a large number of websites had temporarily become inaccessible.

In total, "12,000 to 16,000 customers had been impacted," representing "120,000 services" offered to customers according to the company, which is among the world leaders in "cloud" and web hosting.

The data.gouv.fr public data access platform had notably experienced disruptions.

"No state data has been lost. There are twenty applications that were suspended for a few minutes or hours (...) In the evening everything was restored. The state had adopted mechanisms that we call + activity recovery plans +, extremely efficient, "said OVHcloud CEO Michel Paulin.

He was speaking during a visit by Minister of Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher to the Croix (North) site.

OVHcloud also indicated that it "does not have" data on the number of customers who have lost data permanently, as the customers do not all have the same backup policies.

The minister for her part "welcomed the work" of OVHcloud, host and service provider which employs some 2,500 people and operates 33 "data centers" around the world, but "also an industrialist" which designs and manufactures its own. servers in its two factories located in Croix (Nord) and in Quebec.

One of the "top ten global players" in the Cloud, OVH competes with American Gafa and major Chinese players, the minister said.

"The cloud is a potential element of our sovereignty," continued Ms. Pannier-Runacher, recalling that the State was working on a "sovereign cloud strategy", also "brought to the European level".

According to the company, the Croix plant produces around 70% of the global server base, "in short circuit".

The "innovative system" for cooling servers developed by OVHcloud allows it "to use 30 to 50% less electricity than its competitors", and to be "more competitive", rejoiced Michel Paulin.

© 2021 AFP