The summit was extremely well attended. It was attended by users, interested companies and representatives from politics and public institutions. The Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS) hits the nerve of the times. The open, federable and modular cloud and container platform is based on open source software and guarantees that cloud users comply with the strict standards of the GDPR. The independent and decentralized platform puts collaboration before competition and is a decisive guarantor of digital sovereignty through interoperability, transparency and independence from third-party providers.
As part of the German administrative cloud strategy and as an operational basis for the Gaia-X project, the SCS initiative aims to promote transparency, sustainability and federalism through standardization and certifiability.the platform supports interoperable clouds and focuses on energy efficiency, making it a sustainable solution for cloud operators and cloud users. ScaleUp has joined the SCS Community and will continue to support the project after the funding ends in September 2024.
Highlights of the Summit
ScaleUp offered numerous presentations and demonstrations of its Open Cloud. The new Berlin open cloud environment combines the best of both open source worlds, becomes 100% on energy-efficient open compute hardware and enables companies to use highly available and climate-friendly cloud services. It is designed according to the SCS standard and will receive SCS certification this summer. The Open Cloud is therefore in no way inferior to the innovative power of hyperscalers and at the same time offers the flexibility, independence and transparency that open source projects make possible.
Another highlight of the event was the presentation by PlusServer, which presented its accessible, open-source-based AI solution plusKI, which is due to go live in summer 2024. plusKI shows that even complex and highly innovative open-source technologies can be implemented on the basis of the SCS stack.
Cooperation and standardization
A central theme of the summit was the importance of digital independence in increasingly polarized societies. Another point was standardization and certifiability in the cloud sector. To date, container management has varied from cloud provider to cloud provider, which makes it much more difficult to switch or combine with other providers. This leads to lock-in effects for established cloud providers. The establishment of uniform standards enables interoperability, gives users and customers guidance and sets reliable rules and minimum requirements in the face of rapid technological change. They are crucial for a free and value-based digital future, as they help to manage complexity and prevent misuse.
The future of the SCS project
Everyone at the summit was eager to find out how the SCS project will continue. This is because the BMWK funding will come to an end in September 2024. Kurt Garloff and Felix Kronlage-Dama
Conclusion
The SCS/OSB Alliance Summit 2024 was an exciting event that demonstrated how open source technologies and collaborative approaches are shaping the future of the cloud computing landscape. By promoting standardization, transparency and sustainability, SCS creates a future-oriented platform that helps companies regain their digital sovereignty and develop innovative solutions. Networking with like-minded people and sharing knowledge and best practices represents real added value for us as a cloud operator and therefore also for our customers, and we look forward to continuing to support the SCS community.
