plusserver: Offering a sovereign GDPR-compliant cloud “made in Germany”

Alexander Wallner, CEO of plusserver, believes the importance of the sovereign cloud services and solutions needed to ensure that data is protected, safe, and compliant cannot be overemphasized. He is also quick to point out that plusserver takes responsibility for the cloud-based operations of its growing customer base, which includes enterprises across industries and throughout Germany’s public and private sectors.

“Our customers, especially public institutions and leaders in industries like healthcare and financial services, have high data security and sovereignty requirements that must be met,” says Wallner. “We enable them to benefit from a robust, high-performance IT foundation – one that combines our sovereign cloud offerings with those from the major hyperscalers – to create a true managed multi-cloud platform so they can focus their time and effort on growing their businesses, not building and managing the IT infrastructure they need to accomplish their goals. At plusserver, we believe that data sovereignty is crucial for enabling digital growth and that digital growth in turn is synonymous with business growth.”

With four advanced data centers in Germany, including two facilities in Hamburg and ones in Cologne and Dusseldorf, as well as a cadre of seasoned cloud experts who are fully-vetted German nationals – plusserver offers a wide range of solutions that meet or exceed myriad certifications, including BSI C5, ISO 9001, IDW PH 9.860.1, ISO 27001, and of course the classic data protection requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation. The company’s extensive portfolio of sovereign cloud solutions addresses the needs of customers at every point in their cloud journey, whether it’s first migrating to the cloud or the development of advanced cloud-native applications.

The company also offers a number of complimentary services, including ones for data management, data lifecycle management, and security and storage. In addition, plusserver’s high-performance cloud setups and deployments ensure that customers can consume all services without restrictions or performance degradation even during peak times.

“Our company is viewed as a companion by our customers on their way to the cloud, and once there, in initiatives that realize its full potential,” he adds. “For many, this leads to pluscloud, our sovereign cloud based on trusted and proven VMware technology that features consumption-based billing and free traffic for planning and cost transparency. Now, as a result of earning the VMware Sovereign Cloud distinction, customers can enjoy even greater peace of mind and confidence in our ability to support them at every stage in their unique cloud journey.”

Notably, plusserver is a founding member of Gaia-X. The company also recently commissioned a study with IDC titled “Data Sovereignty in the Cloud – Requirements, Potential and Challenges,” to learn more about the specific needs of both public and private-sector enterprises in Germany.

The survey found that cloud computing is the most important modernization factor for IT, and that cloud services will increasingly replace legacy IT over the next two years, with 61% of companies also planning to use cloud services even more intensively in the medium and long-term because of increased cybersecurity requirements and new standards.

In addition, 82% of respondents in companies with more than 1,000 employees rated data sovereignty as very important or important. Even so, only 11% of German companies were found to have implemented data sovereignty plans or to have a strategy in place for the sovereign handling of data.

This will be important if organizations are to meet what Wallner sees as increasingly imperative requirements. These include knowing where important data resides and who has access to it, retaining the ability to quickly change service providers and avoid vendor lock-in, and enjoying the freedom to innovate that robust sovereign cloud platforms deliver.

“Clearly the market for sovereign cloud solutions will only increase as organizations in Germany take steps to address data sovereignty – an issue that is overwhelmingly acknowledged as being very important,” Wallner says. “At plusserver, our staff is well trained, highly experienced and ideally qualified to help enterprises address this reality. Importantly, our product portfolio is highly standardized for smooth and fast delivery, but we also have the proven ability to develop highly bespoke applications and solutions that surpass the most stringent data protection requirements. Data security, compliance, and data sovereignty are in plusserver’s DNA.”   

Learn more about plusserver and its partnership with VMware here. IT teams can also download a complimentary data sovereignty summary and decision matrix.