T-Systems’ public cloud provides companies with computing, storage, networking, and security. Resources can be booked quickly and flexibly as required, and they can be easily integrated into existing infrastructures.
Today, the public cloud is increasingly offering businesses an alternative to private cloud and on-premises solutions. A recent survey by LogicMonitor predicts that 41 percent of businesses will run workloads on public cloud platforms by 2020. A further 20 percent are expected to be based in private clouds, with another 22 percent running on hybrid cloud platforms by 2020. As the most important and decisive criterion for a cloud service provider, the subject of data protection is at the very top of our agenda. According to Bitkom, compliance with basic data protection regulation is indispensable for nearly all companies (97 percent), and around three quarters say that their cloud provider must be headquartered in the EU.
The Open Telekom Cloud from T-Systems is an Infrastructure as a Service platform operated out of the public cloud, providing customers with a real alternative to the U.S. hyperscalers. Companies benefit from a comprehensive range of computing, storage, networking, security, and management services. In addition to this, they can also choose from a variety of platform services including big data frameworks and virtual desktops. Open Telekom Cloud meets companies’ most important selection criteria. It is secure, open, and reliable, and it can be used as a basis for hybrid cloud architectures.
Business-critical applications have to be fail-safe. This is generally achieved through a redundant system whereby applications are spread across different data center locations. Taking a hybrid approach means companies can use the Open Telekom Cloud as a disaster recovery site. Infrastructural operations are separated at the local level, making the enterprise application even more fail-safe.
All cloud services can be booked and debited within just a few minutes. The Open Telekom Cloud is currently offered in two price models: with Open Elastic, customers only pay for the resources they actually use. Pay-as-you-go resources are measured and charged at minute intervals. In the Reserved model, the price depends on the duration of the resources booked (12, 24, or 36 months). Companies can choose to pay either in monthly installments or in advance, with a discount of up to 60 % percent for the latter.
The Open Telekom Cloud combines the price advantage offered by public cloud services with maximum flexibility and compliance “made in Germany.” At the same time, it meets the highest standards for data security and data protection, as all data, contracts, and services are subject to German law. All Open Telekom Cloud resources offer quick and direct availability. Administration and integration into existing IT environments takes place online.
The capacities made available to us by Open Telekom Cloud enable us to quickly set up our accelerator in the cloud and configure it according to the customer’s application scenario.
Open Telekom Cloud’s technical basis is the open-source cloud operating system OpenStack. A community of around 100,000 people and over 600 companies is continuously working to develop OpenStack. In comparison to proprietary technologies, OpenStack reduces vendor lock-in to a minimum. All public cloud resources can then be integrated into existing IT environments via standard interfaces.
The easiest path to a hybrid cloud landscape is the Open Telekom Cloud Hybrid Solution, which also allows companies to use Open Telekom Cloud locally as a private cloud stored on dedicated servers. Deutsche Telekom operates the Open Telekom Cloud’s private instances in two ways: either in its own data centers, which are accessed by companies via a secure connection, or Telekom can implement and operate the necessary servers directly in the customer’s own data center, if required.
According to the Bitkom Cloud Monitor 2019, a further factor in a company’s decision to opt for public cloud services is the availability of cloud services. Many companies complain about outages, in 46 percent of cases blaming these on technical problems on the part of the cloud provider. Open Telekom Cloud offers an availability of at least 99.95 percent. This is partly due to “Zero Outage”, a holistic program for quality assurance. The measures outlined in the zero-defect strategy are carried out across all levels: from state-of-the-art platforms and globally uniform processes with short fault clearance times to specially trained personnel and tried-and-tested risk management. The Open Telekom Cloud has was awarded Zero Outage certification by the TÜV Rheinland.
A public cloud from a German provider with built-in compliance and OpenStack as an open standard – and all this at standard commercial public cloud prices. The Open Telekom Cloud also offers companies the option of implementing multi-cloud or hybrid cloud scenarios.
Open Telekom Cloud’s comprehensive service set offers a wide range of applications for every industry: no matter whether a company is looking to operate web services or company applications, or to archive data long-term and cost-effectively. The Open Telekom Cloud is also suitable for ensuring fast access to resources for testing, development, or simulations.
The automotive industry, for example, requires powerful computing resources for virtual crash tests – preferably on demand. The Open Telekom Cloud provides corresponding bare metal, high-performance, GPU, and FPGA flavors for these simulations. When developing new car models, manufacturers rely on expensive CAD software that they can also use as on-demand software in the Open Telekom Cloud. Flexible use reduces costs and supports agile development models.
One startup relies on Open Telekom Cloud to help them make comprehensive analyses of MRI scans. The MRI images are transmitted in encrypted form via the internet to Deutsche Telekom’s highly secure data centers, where they are then analyzed: intelligent cloud technology marks conspicuous features on the images, supplementing them with meta information before sending them back to the doctor.
Koblenz-based startup Particulate uses IT resources from the Open Telekom Cloud to operate a donation platform, completely dispensing with its own servers. Auto-scaling allows IT capacities to adapt to actual demand. Particulate uses up to eight virtual machines for this purpose. The data volumes are stored in Particulate’s secure and inexpensive Object-Based Storage (OBS).
UFA is the market leader in German film and television production. In the past, vans transported film material across Germany between film location, headquarters, and archive. Today, film teams transfer their footage to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system. From there it reaches the public cloud via the internet. Transports between shooting location, headquarters, and archive are reduced, saving both time and money. Post-production staff can access and work directly with raw material from anywhere, with finished video material automatically archived in the cloud.
The Cologne-based software company Ambient Innovation specializes in contract work, developing and operating individualized applications for companies using container technology. While in the past Ambient Innovation has relied on its own resources or local servers, it now also uses the Open Telekom Cloud. Today, the startup uses three clusters with a total of 14 virtual machines for test, production, and shared environments in addition to the LoadBalancer function, Object-Based Storage (OBS), and the Cloud Eye Service (CES).
Open Telekom Cloud offers a wide range of services. Some are central cloud services, such as computing, storage, networking, and security. Others help to make working with cloud resources more convenient and cost-transparent.
To prepare for the future, companies need four building blocks: connectivity, cloud and IT infrastructure, security, and digitalization. Telekom’s Public Cloud offers infrastructure as a service, from German data centers.