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Data sovereignty is a critical concern for businesses, especially in jurisdictions with strict data protection laws. For companies in Germany and Europe, complying with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) is essential. STACKIT, the cloud and colocation provider of Schwarz Group, has fully embraced the concept of digital sovereignty by leveraging OpenStack, an open-source cloud platform that ensures full control over data storage and processing while adhering to stringent legal requirements.
Navigating Data Sovereignty with OpenStack
Digital sovereignty refers to a company’s ability to control its data without external interference, ensuring compliance with local and regional regulations while also enabling secure and transparent data processing. For companies, digital sovereignty is not just a matter of compliance; it is fundamental to their digital transformation.
Germany’s robust data protection laws, including the GDPR and BDSG, require businesses to ensure that personal data is processed lawfully, transparently, and for specific purposes. In industries like healthcare, finance, and public services, these regulations are even more stringent, and failure to comply can result in heavy fines and reputational damage. STACKIT, with its deployment of OpenStack, provides a cloud solution that meets these complex regulatory requirements while offering flexibility, scalability, and security.
By using OpenStack, STACKIT ensures that companies can maintain control over their data infrastructure and avoid dependence on third-party cloud providers, which might not adhere to the same stringent regulatory standards. With OpenStack, data is stored within STACKIT’s own data centers, which are strategically located in Germany and Austria, ensuring that sensitive data stays within the region and complies with national data localization laws.
Why OpenStack is the Ideal Solution for STACKIT
STACKIT’s decision to adopt OpenStack was driven by the need for both flexibility and security in managing cloud infrastructure. OpenStack is an open-source cloud platform that allows organizations to build and manage their cloud environments without being locked into proprietary technologies. This openness aligns perfectly with the need for digital sovereignty, as it enables STACKIT and its customers to retain complete control over its infrastructure, ensuring that all data processing and storage meets legal and regulatory requirements.
The flexibility of OpenStack is one of its key strengths. STACKIT’s OpenStack deployment spans three Availability Zones in the Heilbronn region, with additional Availability Zones under construction in Austria. This geographical diversity provides resilience, scalability, and the ability to meet the growing demands of the customers businesses. STACKIT operates around 2,000 compute servers with approximately 300,000 CPU cores, ensuring that the infrastructure can support both current and future digital transformation projects.
Moreover, STACKIT’s OpenStack team is deeply committed to the open-source community, with efforts to contribute code upstream whenever possible. These contributions include improving features impacting OVN migration as well as general bug fixes for services like Nova and Neutron. This level of involvement ensures that STACKIT is not only using a cutting-edge technology platform but is also helping to improve it, ensuring that their cloud infrastructure remains at the forefront of innovation.
Digital Sovereignty in Action: The Vision of the Companies of Schwarz Group
As mentioned in a Financial Times article, “Starting with a system built for internal use in 2021, Lidl owner Schwarz Group now offers cloud computing and cybersecurity services to corporate customers. Its IT unit, Schwarz Digits – which became a standalone operating division in 2023 – has signed up clients including Germany’s biggest software group SAP, the country’s most successful football club Bayern Munich and the port of Hamburg. Last year, the unit generated €1.9 billion in annual sales and it employs 7,500 staff…A main selling point of its service is that all client data is processed and stored exclusively in Germany and Austria, which have stringent privacy and data protection laws.”
OpenStack-powered STACKIT is not the only cloud provider for these end users, but still offers a sovereign private cloud option for these European organizations. For the companies of Schwarz Group, data sovereignty and independence have been crucial since the inception of STACKIT. By providing cloud solutions tailored to the specific needs of the group’s diverse businesses — from production and retail to recycling and digitalization — STACKIT empowers these companies to embrace digital transformation while maintaining full control over their data.
This commitment to digital sovereignty extends beyond internal operations. STACKIT’s cloud services are also available to external partners and customers, providing them with the same level of data control and compliance that has benefited the companies of Schwarz Group for years. The ability to offer data sovereignty that goes far beyond the market standard positions STACKIT as a leader in the cloud services space, providing bespoke solutions that meet the unique needs of each customer.
In today’s interconnected world, data sovereignty is more than just a regulatory necessity — it is a strategic imperative. By adopting OpenStack and focusing on maintaining control over data, STACKIT ensures that the companies of Schwarz Group can comply with stringent data protection laws while embracing the opportunities of digital transformation. With a commitment to transparency, flexibility, and security, STACKIT is setting a new standard for cloud computing that empowers businesses to take control of their digital future.
Helena Spease
Superuser
Kristin Barrientos
