But why does Olvid, a government app, host its data at Amazon?

Olvid is a French messaging application, similar to WhatsApp or Telegram, with several particularities. On the one hand, it is announcedsecureetrespectfulof private life. It does not ask for a phone number to be provided, or even an email address. It also does not access your contact book. In addition, the exchanges areend-to-end encrypted. On the other hand, it was chosen a few weeks ago by the French government to be the messaging application for ministers.

This preference for made in France is laudable. Except when Olvid data ishosted across the Atlantic…

• Olvid is available here on the App Store

Amazon AWS preferred over French alternatives

For Olvid developers,the choice to use Amazon serversfor the app data is simple: it's a question ofperformances.

“The very simple nature of the server probably gives the feeling that we could host it with any host. However, a service like Olvid must provide the best resilience to outages, the best availability across the globe, and the ability to scale quickly in the event of an influx of users or a one-time peak in load. Nobody wants an email whose messages take a long time to arrive around 7 p.m. when everyone is using it!

We therefore chose to host this server at AWS because that is where we found the best quality of service, with the least effort required on our side for maintenance and scaling up of the server. our infrastructure.”

As pointed outour colleagues at alloforfait, large-scale hexagonal alternatives exist. We think, for example, of OVH. It is also rumored that the Frenchman has already approached Olvid to offer his services.

But the question ofpricing and cost for Olvid. Amazon AWS is a global reference in cloud servers, recognized for its reliability, but also for its very affordable prices. Can OVH align to make Olvid a 100% French app? Because whatever Elisabeth Borne says, for the moment,how Olvid works goes beyond our borders.

Editor-in-chief for iPhon.fr. Pierre is like Indiana Jones, looking for the lost iOS trick. Also a long-time Mac user, Apple devices hold no secrets for him. Contact: pierre[a]iphon.fr.