Client story

4 min Read

T-Systems and NorthC join forces to ensure digital sovereignty

Read more

Geopolitical developments have made European governments and businesses increasingly aware of the importance of digital sovereignty. T-Systems supports these organizations in rapidly migrating their critical data and workloads to one of its cloud solutions hosted in a Dutch or European data center.

Patrick Gompelman, Chief Operations Officer at T-Systems, sees how fast the world is changing. “Large European companies and public sector organizations are now asking questions that used to be rare: Where is my data located? Who has access to it? How is it secured? They are reconsidering which cloud service provider they trust with their business-critical data. And when making that choice, many now focus on service providers with European roots.”

Three types of sovereignty

The need to migrate to a European sovereign cloud is growing rapidly. T-Systems distinguishes between three types of sovereignty:

  • Data sovereignty: full control over your own data.
  • Operational sovereignty: the ability to manage and maintain critical infrastructure independently.
  • Technological sovereignty: the ability to develop, produce, and manage essential technologies in-house.

NorthC plays an important role in T-Systems’ service delivery, says Gompelman. “We provide our services from four NorthC data centers in the Netherlands. Local presence is crucial. Without local or European data centers, and transparency around data access, it is impossible to guarantee both data and operational sovereignty.”

Technological innovation

For a long time, European cloud providers were seen as lagging behind their American counterparts. And it’s true. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud have so far set the standards for public cloud, which is why we also work closely with them.

But we are seeing a shift, Gompelman explains. “Right now, there is a great deal of innovation happening across Europe. T-Systems is leading the way at a European level with its portfolio of sovereign solutions, including in the field of AI, fully certified. This was recently confirmed in a KPMG report. On top of that, NorthC is innovating in areas such as energy efficiency and CO2 reduction in its data centers. Together, we’ve been able to create a complete offering that matches the technological capabilities of American cloud providers: ‘sovereignty without compromise’.”

An additional benefit of working with European partners is that you don’t have to worry about whether your provider will comply with European laws and regulations, such as NIS2 or ESG legislation. “Security and data privacy are truly in our DNA, and here in the Netherlands we hold the highest position on the CO2 performance ladder,” Gompelman adds proudly.

“Together with NorthC, we deliver the digital sovereignty so many organizations are currently looking for.”

Patrick Gompelman, COO at T-Systems Nederland B.V.

Seamless migration

Gompelman sees that many organizations are eager to move to a European hybrid cloud setup, but hesitant about the migration process. That hesitation isn’t necessary, he emphasizes. “I completely understand that it feels risky to migrate business-critical workloads to another data center. After all, IT departments in companies or public sector bodies don’t do this every day. But for us, it’s part of our daily routine. The teams at T-Systems and NorthC have extensive experience with complex migrations for large enterprises. We have detailed runbooks for every imaginable scenario. You really don’t need to worry about anything going wrong. And with our FinOps services, we can often achieve substantial cost savings as well.”

A safe haven

In fact, it’s better to act sooner rather than later. “IT is more about trust than ever before. As a provider with European roots and both European and Dutch data centers, we offer companies and public organizations a safe haven for their data and critical workloads—regardless of whether they use private cloud, public cloud, or a combination of both,” Gompelman says. “The secure infrastructure we need in order to offer that safe haven is provided by NorthC. Together, we deliver the digital sovereignty that so many organizations are currently searching for.”

Request a quote