Real European interoperability: how our data space speaks IDS, EDC, and Gaia-X

AI Open Space

Real European interoperability: how our data space speaks IDS, EDC, and Gaia-X

IDS Protocol: the common language of data spaces

The International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) defines the Dataspace Protocol (DSP), the standard that establishes how connectors must communicate. Our data space implements the 2025-1 version of the protocol (with backward compatibility to 2024-1), covering four fundamental areas:

  • Catalog. Providers expose their datasets through a standard catalog service. Consumers and brokers can discover available datasets with pagination based on continuation tokens.

  • Negotiation. A complete state machine (REQUESTED → OFFERED → ACCEPTED → AGREED → VERIFIED → FINALIZED) governs the contract negotiation process between consumer and provider, with termination possible from any state.

  • Transfer. Another state machine manages the data transfer lifecycle, supporting suspensions, resumptions, and terminations.

  • Clearing house. Agreement and transfer registration with blockchain backing for traceability and dispute resolution.

Protocol version detection is automatic: the connector exposes a standard endpoint that other connectors query to determine compatible versions.

Compatibility with Eclipse Dataspace Components (EDC)

EDC is the reference implementation of the IDS protocol maintained by the Eclipse Foundation. It is widely used in projects like Catena-X (automotive) and in sectoral data spaces across Europe.

Our data space has been tested in real interoperability scenarios with EDC connectors, verifying that negotiation, agreements, and transfers work correctly between both implementations. This means an organization using our data space can communicate with Catena-X participants or other EDC-based spaces without intermediate components.

Gaia-X: European compliance credentials

Gaia-X is the European initiative to create a federated and trusted data infrastructure. Its Digital Clearing House (GXDCH) verifies that participants meet specific trust requirements.

Our data space integrates the complete Gaia-X compliance flow: the connector builds a Verifiable Presentation (VP) with its credentials, sends it to the GXDCH, and receives a compliance credential certifying conformity with the selected trust framework. All configurable from the connector's admin interface.

For development and testing, we include a GXDCH mock server that allows running the complete compliance flow without connecting to the production infrastructure.

Defense in depth: mTLS + DID authentication

Communication between connectors uses two simultaneous authentication layers. The first is mutual TLS (mTLS): both connectors present their certificates and validate each other's chain against trusted certificate authorities. The second is self-issued DID tokens: a JWT signed with the sender's DID private key, verifiable by resolving the sender's public DID.

This defense in depth ensures that even if one layer is compromised, the other continues protecting the communication.

Beyond the protocol: proprietary extensions

In addition to the standard IDS implementation, our data space adds extensions that enrich the ecosystem without breaking compatibility: a payment protocol for monetized datasets (with ODRL obligation support), an attestation system with configurable trusted issuers, and a trust model discovery mechanism that allows participants to learn other connectors' authentication policies before initiating a negotiation.

Interoperability is not just speaking the same protocol: it's building an ecosystem where trust is verified, data flows, and organizations collaborate with the certainty that the rules of the game are the same for everyone.