​International X-Road technology event takes place in Finland in September

The annual X-Road Community Event takes place this time in Helsinki, Finland, on 6th September 2019. The organizers are expecting 200 participants from around the world.

The X-Road Community Event is aimed for anyone interested in X-Road – users consuming or producing services by using X-Road, developers of X-Road open source software or related components, operators of X-Road environments or servers, and decision-makers and e-governance experts.

“It’s an international flagship event for X-Road enthusiasts around the world and the event is much awaited by the global user community", says Ville Sirviö, CEO of the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) that is the organizer of the event.

The global X-Road Community has members from more than 10 different time zones and there are over 20 countries currently considering, studying or implementing the X-Road or other solutions based on it. Last year the X-Road Community Event was held in Tallinn, Estonia, where it gathered guests from Austria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Madagascar, Sweden and the United States.

X-Road is an open source data exchange layer solution that enables organizations to exchange information over the Internet. X-Road technology is used nationwide in Estonia, Finland, Iceland and several other countries around the world. Since February 2018 Estonia and Finland have established cross-border data exchange through X-Road trust federation.

The Faroe Islands becomes a partner of the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions

The Faroe Islands have signed a partnership agreement with the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) and the parties aim to deepen their cooperation.

The Faroe Islands have implemented X-Road data exchange layer version 5 back in 2016 and are aiming to migrate to version 6, which is nowadays under development by NIIS. The X-Road data exchange layer enables secure data exchange within a country, but also as an X-Road federation between the countries which have implemented their own X-Road environments.

"We look forward to cooperate with the Faroe Islands in the development of X-Road core software. The Faroe Islands have valuable user experience as the software has already been implemented there, and their forthcoming migration to X-Road version 6 will bring new opportunities. The start of cooperation with the Faroe Islands marks a milestone in building cross-border interoperability in the Nordic region", explains Ville Sirviö, the CEO of NIIS.

“Secure data transportation is vital for trust in our digital solutions. Therefore, since 2016, the X-Road has been a crucial component of the Faroe Islands’ digital infrastructure. Together with our eID, it allows us to develop digital solutions that rely on our basic data. All data is transferred in a standardized and secure way. Today, all public institutions use X-Road for their data exchange while maintaining autonomy over their IT-solutions. To be able to use the same technology and security in cross-border data exchange is a remarkable step for the digital cooperation in the Nordic and Baltic region”, says Kristina Háfoss, Minister of Finance and Digitalization in the Faroe Islands.

X-Road is an open source data exchange layer solution that enables organizations to exchange information over the Internet. X-Road ensures confidentiality, integrity and interoperability between data exchange parties. The X-Road technology is used nationwide in Estonia, Finland, Iceland and several other countries around the world.

X-Road version with REST support released by the Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions

Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) has on 30th April 2019 released version 6.21.0 of X-Road data exchange layer that provides support for consuming and producing both SOAP and REST services. From now on REST-based information systems can be integrated to X-Road without technical changes and an additional adapter service component.

Adding support for REST does not mean dropping support for SOAP from X-Road. No changes are required to information systems consuming and producing SOAP services via X-Road. Instead, the architectural styles can co-exist side by side which means that all existing SOAP services are supported in the future as well.

"REST support has been requested by X-Road user organisations in Estonia and Finland for some time already, and we're glad to be able to provide it to them now. User organisations have commented REST protocol's draft versions and participated in design workshops related to the implementation over the last year. This is the most significant change in X-Road core since the release of version 6 in 2015", says Petteri Kivimäki, CTO of NIIS.

Another major improvement in the new X-Road core version is streamlined onboarding process of new X-Road member organisations and information systems. The streamlined onboarding process speeds up registration and reduces daily management tasks of X-Road operators.

X-Road data exchange layer software is released under the MIT open source license and is available free of charge for any individual or organization.