The sovereign cloud for the public sector

Digital sovereignty
The sovereignty of the digital infrastructure is the basis for administrative digitization. According to the IT Planning Council, digital sovereignty is “[…] the ability and opportunity of individuals and institutions to exercise their role(s) in the digital world independently, self-determinedly and securely”. Sovereignty over one’s own data plays an important role in this. A data sovereign cloud secures this data sovereignty.

Mulitcloud brokerage
The federal government pursues a multicloud approach in the public sector. This reduces risks and protects against dependencies on individual providers. To ensure a seamless transition to multicloud environments, open interfaces and strict security and transparency requirements are a prerequisite. The interoperability of different clouds is confirmed by the ability to switch. STACKIT is actively involved in a corresponding proof of concept in a GovTech Campus project.

Smart City
Smart cities use intelligent information and communication technologies to increase participation and quality of life. For example, the networking of traffic control, parking management and buildings makes a wide range of application scenarios conceivable. Smart mobility refers to the interface between technology and mobility. Cloud computing plays a decisive role here, as cloud environments score points with scalable, flexible and secure solutions, especially when it comes to very large amounts of data that must always be available in real time.

Digital security
Digital data rooms are unthinkable without appropriate security measures. Our data-sovereign infrastructure already meets a very high security standard in its basic form, as confirmed by the BSI’s C5 certification, for example. In addition, with the “Wire” messenger, we offer a secure platform for communication and the exchange of data – so secure that Wire is the only messenger to have been approved for the communication of “classified information – for official use only”. XM Cyber, also a company within the Schwarz Group’s IT and digital division, is another key component for secure data rooms: the software analyzes all vulnerabilities in the IT infrastructure 24/7 from an attacker’s perspective. The leading platform for “Continuous Threat Exposure Management” (CTEM) shows how data rooms and access to them can be efficiently protected and how vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and other security gaps can be prioritized and rectified.

Open Data
Open data refers to data that can be freely used by all participants in the corresponding open data platforms. Public institutions have enormous amounts of data at their disposal. Taking into account data protection and data governance requirements, there are a variety of options for the comprehensive use of data within the administration. Cloud technology plays an important role in the provision and management of open data, as cloud environments are designed to structure very large volumes of data with complex references and reliably implement security requirements, even with a large number of stakeholders.

Open source
Open source technologies offer an approach to creating shared data spaces and open standards. On the one hand, open source contributes to the federal government’s multicloud strategy, as it increases the ability to switch between providers – a technical vendor lock-in is avoided. Open source also offers complete transparency regarding the use of data through open source codes, which eliminates residual risks in data protection. Data sovereign clouds such as the STACKIT Cloud consistently rely on open source to increase data sovereignty and ensure their users’ ability to switch.

Standardization & automation
Standardization and automation play a decisive role in increasing efficiency and improving business processes in public administration. The German Administration Cloud is an important step towards standardization by establishing common standards and open interfaces for cloud solutions. Such cloud solutions include chatbots, self-service portals and automated application processing.

Digital administrative workplace
A digital administrative workplace is part of a modern administration, enabling flexible and location-independent working and the use of innovative technologies. Efficient collaboration in hybrid settings is ensured by cloud-based collaboration tools and document storage space. AI platforms also play a role here. In the form of chatbots, these can answer citizens’ queries and support employees with routine tasks as virtual assistants. Through our collaboration on “F13”, we are part of the first AI assistance system of a state administration in Germany with our cloud. Thanks to our data-sovereign cloud, the solution fully complies with the high German data protection guidelines without any remaining doubts.

Online specialist procedures
ISpecialist procedures play a crucial role in the context of the OZG. They are designed to make administrative services digital and user-friendly. Cloud computing offers a scalable infrastructure that implements load changes reliably and cost-effectively. The data-sovereign infrastructure on which STACKIT is based not only protects the personal rights of those communicating, but also official files and other sensitive data.