Real-world living laboratory Peachtree Corners has selected French firm OVHcloud as its cloud partner so the US smart city can test emerging technologies and applications.

OVHcloud, a cloud services provider, has announced a partnership with Peachtree Corners, one of the USA’s first 5G smart cities powered by real-world connected infrastructure. Together, the partners will accelerate the pace of innovation across the city, including on Peachtree Corner’s autonomous vehicle test track and at the Curiosity Lab Innovation Center.

OVHcloud will deliver compute, storage and other cloud platform resources, which will allow the city and technology partners to manage, analyse, gain critical insights and make informed decisions from the massive amounts of data generated from the autonomous vehicles.

“We’ve watched with interest as Peachtree Corners has established its position as the leader for autonomous mobility and smart city technologies testing and we are excited to serve as the exclusive cloud technology partner to both start-ups and enterprises within their ecosystem,” said Jeffrey Gregor, general manager of OVHcloud in the USA. “We’re eager to provide the cloud platform to support companies and agencies who are developing the next generation smart city technology that will ultimately serve communities across the country and around the world.”

Peachtree Corners and Curiosity Lab Innovation Center members will be able to leverage OVHcloud’s global cloud infrastructure. OVHcloud is Europe’s leading cloud provider operating over 400,000 servers within 33 data centres across four continents. For 20 years, the group has relied on an integrated model that provides complete control of its value chain, from the design of its servers to the construction and management of its data centres, including the orchestration of its fibre-optic network. This approach allows it to cover all the uses of its 1.6 million customers in more than 140 countries.

“Our vision for Peachtree Corners as a living lab is tied closely to the partners who gather here to collaborate with other industry leaders and focus their research on immediate challenges and results,” said Brandon Branham, chief technology officer of Peachtree Corners. “OVHcloud will be a major contributor to the ultimate realisation of that vision, and we are excited to have them join as the exclusive cloud partner of the Curiosity Lab Innovation Center.”

At the heart of what is being called Silicon Orchard in the metro-Atlanta region, Peachtree Corners, Georgia, is a municipality that is home to more than 45,000 residents and an innovation hub that houses some of the world’s most disruptive technology companies. Powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, Peachtree Corners serves as the model for how government and private industry can collaborate to create a better future for society and business. From the world’s first deployment of teleoperated escooters to fully autonomous shuttles being used by actual residents, and from a solar roadway to the largest electric vehicle charging hub in the region, Peachtree Corners is where future-forward IoT and sustainable technologies come to life.

“The partnership with Peachtree Corners represents an important step towards being recognised as a leading cloud provider in the USA,” said Pascal Jaillon, senior vice president for OVHcloud in the USA. “Our presence in Silicon Orchard represents a unique opportunity as a hub for collaboration among existing Curiosity Lab Innovation Center members and the cultivation of new relationships with start-ups, investors, policymakers and community builders worldwide.”

Curiosity Lab is a 5G-enabled autonomous vehicle and smart city living laboratory located in Peachtree Corners. The centrepiece of the lab is a 2.4km test and demo track which provides a real-world environment to explore emerging technologies. Additional infrastructure includes a network operations centre, smart poles, DSRC units, dedicated fibre and a tech incubator.