BEACON · Project

Connect Multiple Cloud Providers Into One Seamless Network With Open-Source Tools

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Imagine your company uses two or three different cloud services, but they can't easily talk to each other — moving data between them is slow, complicated, and risky. BEACON built open-source software that lets different cloud providers pool their resources and act like one big system. Think of it like making different mobile phone networks interoperate so you can call anyone, regardless of carrier. The result: businesses can spread their applications across multiple clouds without juggling each one separately.

By the numbers

consortium partners across the project

countries represented in the consortium

software prototype deliverables produced

total deliverables completed

67%

industry partner ratio in the consortium

SMEs among consortium partners

EUR 3,570,250

EU contribution to the project

The business problem

What needed solving

Companies running workloads across multiple cloud providers or datacenters face a painful integration problem: each cloud has its own networking, orchestration, and management tools that don't interoperate. This means manual configuration, security gaps between environments, and inability to move applications fluidly between providers. The result is vendor lock-in, wasted engineering time, and infrastructure that can't scale elastically when demand spikes.

The solution

What was built

BEACON produced 6 software prototypes with documentation: federation extensions for OpenStack and OpenNebula cloud platforms, and cross-cloud virtual network overlay capabilities built on OpenDaylight (Linux Foundation). In total, the project delivered 37 deliverables covering inter-cloud APIs, multi-tenant networking, federated orchestration, and automated application placement across cloud sites.

Audience

Who needs this

Cloud service providers managing multi-datacenter infrastructureEnterprise IT departments running hybrid or multi-cloud environmentsManaged hosting companies offering cross-region deploymentsTelecom operators building edge and distributed cloud servicesGovernment IT agencies requiring sovereign cloud federation

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Cloud & Managed IT Services

enterprise

Target: Cloud service providers or managed hosting companies running multi-datacenter operations

If you are a cloud service provider struggling to offer customers seamless multi-site deployments — BEACON developed open-source federation extensions for OpenStack and OpenNebula that let you pool resources across datacenters. With 6 software prototypes delivered across multiple development phases, the tools handle virtual network overlays, multi-tenancy, and automated application placement across sites.

E-Commerce & Online Retail

mid-size

Target: Online retailers operating across multiple cloud regions for low-latency customer experiences

If you are an e-commerce company running infrastructure in multiple clouds to stay close to your customers — BEACON built cross-cloud networking APIs based on OpenDaylight that create virtual network overlays between different providers. This means your applications can burst into a second cloud during peak shopping seasons without manual network reconfiguration, built from a consortium of 9 partners across 6 countries.

Financial Services & Banking

enterprise

Target: Banks or insurance companies needing secure hybrid cloud with strict data residency

If you are a financial institution that must keep certain data on-premises while using public cloud for other workloads — BEACON developed federated orchestration for compute, storage, and networking with built-in multi-tenancy and security controls. The software prototypes cover both tightly coupled federation within your own datacenters and loosely coupled federation across different administrative domains, addressing data sovereignty concerns.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to adopt this technology?

BEACON is fully committed to open-source software, built on OpenDaylight (Linux Foundation), OpenNebula, and OpenStack. There are no licensing fees for the core technology. Your costs would be integration, customization, and staff training. The EU invested EUR 3,570,250 in developing these tools.

Can this scale to enterprise-level cloud operations?

The project specifically targets both tightly coupled federation across multiple datacenters within one organization, and loosely coupled federation spanning different administrative domains. With 6 software prototype deliverables iterated across three development phases, the tools were designed for production-grade cloud environments running OpenStack or OpenNebula.

Who owns the IP and how is it licensed?

BEACON was fully committed to open-source software. Extensions were built on OpenDaylight (Linux Foundation project), OpenNebula, and OpenStack — all open-source platforms. Based on available project data, the federation extensions follow the same open-source licensing as their parent projects.

Which cloud platforms does this work with?

The project extended two major open-source cloud platforms: OpenNebula and OpenStack. The networking layer is built on OpenDaylight, specifically extending the OpenDOVE project with new inter-cloud APIs. These are widely adopted platforms with large ecosystems and community support.

Is this still maintained or is it outdated?

The project ended in July 2017. While the core concepts of cloud federation remain highly relevant, the specific software versions may need updating to match current OpenStack and OpenDaylight releases. The open-source nature means the code can be forked and maintained independently.

What security features does the federation include?

The project explicitly addressed secure federation of cloud networking resources, including multi-tenancy support and the ability to manage federation across different administrative and legal domains. Based on available project data, security was a core design requirement rather than an add-on.

Consortium

Who built it

The BEACON consortium was heavily industry-driven with 6 out of 9 partners (67%) coming from industry, including 4 SMEs — well above average for EU research projects. Partners spanned 6 countries (Belgium, Germany, Spain, Israel, Italy, UK), giving the project broad European coverage plus Israeli cloud expertise. With only 2 universities and 1 research organization, this was clearly an engineering-focused effort aimed at building working software rather than publishing papers. The coordinator, CETIC (Belgium), is a technology excellence center classified as an SME, combining research capability with a market-oriented mindset.

CENTRE D'EXCELLENCE EN TECHNOLOGIES DE L'INFORMATION ET DE LA COMMUNICATIONCoordinator · BE
LUFTHANSA SYSTEMS GMBH & CO KGparticipant · DE
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MESSINAparticipant · IT
UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRIDparticipant · ES
FLEXIANT LIMITEDparticipant · UK
OPENNEBULA SYSTEMS SLparticipant · ES
FLEXIOPS LIMITEDparticipant · UK
IBM ISRAEL - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LTDparticipant · IL

How to reach the team

CETIC (Centre d'Excellence en Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication), Belgium — contact available through SciTransfer

Order a report on this consortium See CENTRE D'EXCELLENCE EN TECHNOLOGIES DE L'INFORMATION ET DE LA COMMUNICATION profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how federated cloud networking can reduce your multi-cloud complexity? SciTransfer can connect you with the BEACON team and help assess fit for your infrastructure.

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