On their way into the public cloud, companies have hitherto had few alternatives to the US providers. In line with the motto “Easy. Safe. Economical”, business customers can now digitize their IT infrastructure with Open Telekom Cloud under German data protection guidelines. The public cloud is setting new benchmarks for cloud computing through personal support and lower costs. We give you 10 reasons why the public cloud “Made in Germany” should interest companies of any size.

Ever since the “Safe Harbor” decision by the European Court of Justice in October 2015, which prohibited the transfer of personal data to the USA, German and European companies have been paying even greater attention to where their data are hosted. Unlike US providers, Open Telekom Cloud has a clear locational advantage. It is one of the few public clouds on the market subject to German law. The Cloud is located in the Deutsche Telekom TwinCore computer centre in Magdeburg. Individual company data protection guidelines (compliance) therefore do not represent obstacles to digitizing the company and moving over to the cloud.

The basis for Open Telekom Cloud is the open-source software “OpenStack”. This means that companies remain flexible because they are not bound to a specific provider with closed technology. One of the world’s largest communities also provides an assurance of constant advancement and future-proofing.

The IaaS resources of Open Telekom Cloud can simply be ordered online and the resources used immediately. In addition, they can be conveniently managed online and integrated into existing IT environments via standard APIs. Customers select CPU, RAM, storage, network and are thus able to find precisely the configuration that matches their requirements in the range offered by Deutsche Telekom. Users define their own rules for automatic scaling and the same applies to monitoring services.

The user interface of Open Telekom Cloud is intuitive and easy to operate. Companies that have previously used another cloud provider will instantly find their way around the front-end. However, newcomers to cloud computing will also find it easy to make a start.

Open Telekom Cloud is also very competitive in terms of costs. Combined with the issues of security and quality, this public cloud therefore gives companies an attractive alternative to American cloud providers.

Unlike other public cloud providers, companies benefit from specialized support in Open Telekom Cloud, both at the beginning and during operation. Support is available via e-mail, telephone and even through on-site training sessions. Support helps in matters such as selecting the appropriate components but also when establishing the connection or migrating from another provider when companies are already operating their IT infrastructure in the cloud.

Companies requiring more extensive support, be this due to limited experience with conversions to the cloud or a lack of resources, can also benefit from the comprehensive consultancy and transformation services that T-Systems offers Open Telekom Cloud customers. In our consultancy operations, we take a wider view and provide companies with far-reaching advice.

In line with the motto “Simple.Safe.Economical”, small and medium-sized enterprises are now also able to afford secure cloud solutions. And even large corporations can take advantage of Open Telekom Cloud because it is not only economical but also provides appropriate quality and meets compliance requirements. This enables new business models to be introduced and more efficient IT infrastructure to be implemented on the basis of cloud applications and adapted to the company’s development.

If business customers are already operating their IT infrastructure or applications in a public cloud, the team behind Open Telekom Cloud helps with the changeover. OpenStack technology and flexible pricing models mean that hybrid solutions are also possible in which parts of the old infrastructure continue to run in parallel. Thanks to the open platform, users can additionally implement multi clouds, thus allowing them to manage cloud services from different providers in a clearly structured manner or even relocate these services.

Telekom operates an efficient partner ecosystem that includes both market leaders and game changers. As a result, users of Open Telekom Cloud have access, for example, to solutions from SAP, Salesforce, Cisco and Microsoft. The long-standing partnerships with these companies make Open Telekom Cloud unique – customers benefit from a central point of contact for their IT solutions.

Until now, all those wishing to operate their infrastructure or applications flexibly in the cloud found there was no way of avoiding certain American providers. Within this context, Open Telekom Cloud primarily scores in the areas that have been neglected by the international competition: personal support and compliance specifications in accordance with German data protection. And it is precisely this security and support that business customers require. Open Telekom Cloud is therefore also making an important contribution to digitizing the German and European economies.