Open Source Software lives from participation. We don't just take Open Source Software as a given to make a quick buck. Our founder as well as our employees are active contributors since years to some of the Open Source components used. Not all of them, of course, it only works together.

For example, we are very active in the OpenStack project since our founding five years ago. We also participate very actively in the Open Infrastructure Foundation and have been nominated for the Open Infrastructure Foundation's 2021 Superuser Award. Our solution OSISM, which is built on open source components, is also available as open source under the Apache License 2.0.

We don't just report bugs or improve documentation. We actively participate in the development. And this has been the reality for a long time and continuously. We provide reviewers, we help to test the software, we share our experience and operational know-how. We write articles, participate in development conferences and we share many of these little helpers and hints that are often purposely not shared. We are also involved in organisational tasks in the upstream that no one else wants to do because they only cost time and bring nothing. We are committed to the Four Opens: Open Source, Open Design, Open Development, Open Community.

Each of our customers helps to ensure that Open Source Software is not just used and consumed. Each of our customers enables us to work actively on Open Source Software. Thanks a lot!

We would also like to thank the following infrastructure providers for providing resources to run short and long term tests of OSISM.

As a day one member of the Gaia-X European Association for Data and Cloud AISBL we actively help to improve data sovereignty in Europe. Our solution OSISM is an integral part of the Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS) project funded by the Federal Agency For Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND) and the Federal ministry for economy and energy (BMWi).

Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS) is cloud technology built entirely with Open Source Software – as an alternative to propietary cloud technology. Only Open Source guarantees interoperability, transparency and independence from legal claims of third parties and thus from political interference.

By using the modular SCS software stack, cloud providers can offer Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Container-as-a-Service without depending on other vendors.

SCS is using and standardizing existing and proven Open Source components such as e.g. Kubernetes and does extend them where required. Federated cloud services are enabled this way, and users can leverage distributed cloud services from several SCS operators. European companies thus have options all the way from running it themselves or using one or several service providers and thus have 100% freedom of choice avoiding lock-in effects and dependencies from providers from foreign jurisdictions.

By sharing and documenting best practices for operating such cloud stacks, the difficulty to provide high quality cloud services internally or publicly is vastly reduced.

The target of SCS and the supporting companies: Anyone can benefit from the SCS software stack by using it – and by contributing to the Open Source code, one will increase the value of Gaia-X.

For German-speaking readers, iX 2020/12 contains an article with the title "Wolken-Verbund" written by Kurt Garloff. This article presents in detail the vision behind the Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS) and the current state of technical implementation based on OSISM.

In the document Digitale Souveränität – Status quo und Handlungsfelder published on 03/25/2021 by the Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften, the Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS) is listed as a key building block in Gaia-X.