ONAPP LIMITED

Their core work

OnApp is a Gibraltar-based cloud infrastructure and virtualization technology company that provides platforms for building and managing cloud services. In H2020 projects, they contribute cloud orchestration, virtualization, and distributed computing expertise to research consortia tackling challenges from secure hardware architectures to large-scale data processing. Their work spans cloud-native edge computing, platform-as-a-service solutions, and HPC-cloud convergence for handling big data workloads across sectors like transportation and maritime.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

OnApp's early H2020 work (2015-2016) centered on security — secure-by-design hardware, end-to-end security for sensitive domains like medical and automotive applications (SHARCS). From 2017 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward cloud performance and scalability: resource-efficient databases in the cloud (ACTiCLOUD), next-generation PaaS (NGPaaS), and HPC-cloud convergence for big data (EVOLVE). This trajectory shows a company that moved from securing cloud infrastructure to optimizing and scaling it for data-intensive industrial workloads.

OnApp is moving toward high-performance cloud-HPC hybrid platforms for data-intensive applications in transport, maritime, and industrial domains — expect continued focus on scalable data infrastructure.

How they like to work

OnApp participates exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator, suggesting they position themselves as a specialized technology provider rather than a project leader. With 59 unique partners across 18 countries from just 5 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia (averaging 12+ partners per project). This broad network indicates they are a sought-after cloud infrastructure partner comfortable integrating with many different research and industry teams.

OnApp has collaborated with 59 distinct partners across 18 countries through 5 projects, giving them a remarkably wide European network for an SME of their size. Their partnerships span academia, research institutes, and industry across Western and Southern Europe.

What sets them apart

OnApp brings production-grade cloud virtualization and infrastructure management expertise into research consortia — they are not a lab building prototypes but a company whose core product is cloud platform technology. Their Gibraltar base is unusual in the H2020 landscape, and their combination of security knowledge with cloud-HPC scalability expertise makes them a versatile infrastructure partner. For consortium builders, they offer a ready-made cloud testbed and real-world deployment experience that can take research results from simulation to operational environments.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ACTiCLOUD
  Highest single-project funding (EUR 610,000), addressing a critical challenge of running large databases efficiently in cloud environments.
• EVOLVE
  Most recent project bridging HPC and cloud for big data across transport and maritime — signals OnApp's strategic direction toward industrial data applications.
• SHARCS
  Demonstrates OnApp's security credentials with secure-by-design architectures for sensitive domains including medical and automotive.