Planetek selects Cubbit to create a 3.5-petabyte sovereign infrastructure for geospatial data storage

Overview

Challenges

• Protect geospatial data from cyber and geopolitical risks
• Maintain full data control, without high IT overhead
• Manage large-scale, multi-site space projects
• Keep data within national territory, with continuous access

Solution

Create its own sovereign infrastructure for the storage and management of geospatial data by deploying DS3 Composer (3.5 PB) on its storage nodes.

Results

• 100% European technology with full control and no lock-in
• Low overhead, flexible platform supporting the full operational data cycle
• Continuous data access and military-grade security
• Data stored within the national territory

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Planetek operates in Earth Observation (EO), geospatial analytics, and mission software, and is part of the D-Orbit Group (a global leader in space logistics and orbital transportation). 

The company manages nationally significant satellite and geospatial data and was looking for fully European technology to meet increasingly strict requirements around data security, sovereignty, and operational efficiency — while reducing exposure to geopolitical risk.

Challenge

Planetek needed a secure, sovereign platform for backup and long-term archiving of satellite data, able to support the full operational cycle — from data collection and transformation to sharing. The infrastructure also had to scale across multiple sites, reflecting how large space projects are run in distributed environments.

Traditional on-premises object storage was evaluated over the years. While it provided control, it introduced recurring constraints: cost, rigidity, and operational complexity, often requiring significant IT resources. In parallel, given the current geopolitical landscape, public cloud was not an option due to concerns around data sovereignty, regulatory compliance, and economic constraints.

Solution

To support space programmes, the company signed an agreement with Cubbit to create an infrastructure for the storage and management of geospatial data, based on fully European technologies. The first deployment under the agreement involves Planetek Hellas, operating in Greece.

Planetek adopted DS3 Composer — Cubbit’s software-defined S3 object store — installing it on its storage nodes, to create a flexible, geo-distributed platform designed to guarantee full national data sovereignty and no technological lock-in.

The initial deployment provides 3.5 petabytes of capacity, with a planned expansion to 5 petabytes in the coming years. Data is stored within the national territory and can be made globally accessible whenever required.

Cubbit’s approach protects data by encrypting, fragmenting, and distributing it across multiple nodes — so it is never exposed in full while remaining always accessible.

“The ability to maintain full control of the data within our technological perimeter, and the sovereignty guarantee offered to our customers, gives us a key strategic advantage” — said Sergio Samarelli, CTO of Planetek.

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