Connecting All of Europe With a Single Crossroad
The secure data-exchange layer X-Road®
An interview with Ville Sirviö, Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS)
In Short
X-Road® is a open-source software and ecosystem solution that provides unified and secure data exchange between organisations. The basic idea of X-Road is that members of an ecosystem exchange data through access points (Security Servers) that implement the same technical specifications. X-Road is a digital public good, available free of charge.
X-Road was initially developed in Estonia in 2001 and is now used by different countries and organisations as a system to exchange data securely. Together with Finland and Iceland, the Nordic Insitute of Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) is responsible for the continuous development of the system. The Institute’s CEO, Ville Sirviö, explained in an interview with the IM+io magazine how such a high-security data exchange system for the public sector was built and the risks and benefits of having information systems connected to the Internet.
