The public cloud landscape in Europe is undergoing a shift.

Deutsche Telekom is the latest company to arrive on the scene with a new public cloud offering that combines flexible IT resources with strict German data protection regulations. With the Open Telekom Cloud the Bonn-based group, active in about 50 countries, offers private and public cloud and software solutions that integrate into existing IT infrastructure.

“The need for data sovereignty, industry-specific regulations and trusted relationships between enterprises and leading IT companies are increasing demand for OpenStack-based public clouds like the Open Telekom Cloud,” said Jonathan Bryce, executive director of the OpenStack Foundation. “Deutsche Telekom’s decision to standardize on OpenStack and open APIs is a win for their customers.”

Bryce’s comments came following the announcement of the “comprehensive cloud portfolio,” at CEBIT. Meeting stringent regulations across Europe will become increasingly important when the new European General Data Protection Regulation comes into effect in 2018.

"Access to a scalable, inexpensive public cloud provided by a German service provider from a German data center under German law will be very attractive to many customers in Germany," explains Andreas Zilch from analyst firm PAC. "In particular, the combination of an inexpensive service and German legal security represents a unique selling point right now."

German software powerhouse SAP will be one of the first Open Telekom Cloud users and service providers. As a first step, T-Systems will provide the necessary infrastructure services for classic SAP applications as well as SAP HANA in the Open Telekom Cloud. These services are also available in any combination of public and private.

The Deutsche Telekom news rides a wave of OpenStack public cloud news in Europe, including:

• HM Revenue and Customs, the UK government department responsible for collecting taxes, rolling out its vaunted multi-channel digital tax platform on OpenStack on DataCentred’s public cloud

• Cloud Team Alliance winning the ability to provide Openstack based public infrastructure-as-a-service services to 52 European Institutions

• CityNetwork, based in Sweden, selected as the IaaS partner for leading insurance company in Folksam.

Cover Photo // CC BY NC