Milestone reached: Schwarz IT and Cloud&Heat launch open source tool Yaook for building sovereign cloud infrastructures

(Neckarsulm / Dresden, 11 August 2021) Schwarz IT with its STACKIT brand and the Green IT company Cloud&Heat announce the release announced by Yaook. This represents an important step on the way to a powerful, transparent cloud based on free software and hosted in Germany. The common goal is nothing less than the sustainable strengthening of digital sovereignty in Europe. In particular, medium-sized companies that value high security standards are being addressed.

The cloud is considered the heart of digital infrastructures. Without it, the digital transformation and important developments such as artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0 would be almost inconceivable. With Yaook - the acronym stands for "Yet another Openstack on Kubernetes" - the partners STACKIT and Cloud&Heat, who have been cooperating since 2020, have now developed an open-source lifecycle management system (LCM) for the provision of cloud infrastructures. This involves the preparation and operation of the software components required to form an OpenStack cloud cluster. Yaook uses the open source system Kubernetes as its technological basis. Yaook is also to be used for the cloud offerings of STACKIT and Cloud&Heat.

"We are convinced that digital sovereignty is only possible on the basis of open-source cloud infrastructures. The GAIA-X initiative will also not be able to achieve its goals without open infrastructures. Open source is an important prerequisite for interoperability and independence. This is the only way to efficiently counteract a 'vendor lock-in', for example," says Marius Feldmann, COO of Cloud&Heat Technologies GmbH.

Yaook can also be used to run SecuStack, a security-hardened variant of OpenStack. In addition to the secure transfer of data to the cloud and a strict separation of client networks, customers with this variant receive the full
control over their cryptographic keys. With these additional security mechanisms, it is particularly attractive for operators of critical infrastructures (CRITIS) with especially high demands on data protection and security.

With the cloud project, the partner companies do not see themselves in competition with the European GAIA-X initiative. Rather, they hope that GAIA-X will create an ecosystem in which cloud offerings are jointly developed and operated. Accordingly, STACKIT and Cloud&Heat also support the goals of the Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS) with Yaook and actively exchange information with the SCS.

More about the Yaook cloud solution: www.yaook.cloud

About Schwarz IT and STACKIT
STACKIT is the digital brand of Schwarz IT and thus part of the IT organisation of Europe's largest retail group. This includes Lidl and Kaufland as well as Schwarz Produktion and companies in the recyclables management sector. STACKIT offers colocation in the form of data centre or rack space as well as cloud infrastructure and platform services (IaaS and PaaS) in enterprise quality. STACKIT provides the technological basis for the Schwarz Group's digital transformation, from which external companies will also benefit in the future. Schwarz IT currently employs over 3,500 people and STACKIT uses the Group's existing resources, including its own data centres in Germany and Austria.

About Cloud&Heat Technologies GmbH
Since its founding in 2011, Cloud&Heat Technologies' vision has been to make sustainability and security the drivers of digital innovation. The Dresden-based company develops, builds and operates secure and energy-efficient digital infrastructures that meet the requirements of modern
applications. On the one hand, the digital infrastructures are provided as virtual resources for processing large amounts of data, e.g. in the context of machine learning applications, for start-ups and SMEs. On the other hand, Cloud&Heat offers large, customised IT infrastructures with a fully comprehensive combination of cloud and heat solutions. Today, Cloud&Heat employs over 90 people and operates digital infrastructures at over 24 locations worldwide.