GDPR-compliant cloud from Germany

Data sovereignty is guaranteed by providers that meet three conditions: their own data centres in Germany or the EU, an ownership structure free from influence by third countries, and independently audited security. centron meets all three: a self-operated data centre in Hallstadt near Bamberg; an owner-managed German GmbH with no foreign parent company; and ISO 27001 certification on the basis of IT-Grundschutz, as well as an unrestricted BSI C5:2020 Type 1 certificate.

A data-sovereign cloud offers four concrete advantages: first, legal certainty – only German and European law applies, with no access risks from third-country legislation such as the US CLOUD Act or FISA Section 702. Second, predictability for compliance requirements, because auditors, supervisory authorities and clients find a clearly defined information network. Third, full control over data location, access and exit strategy. Fourth, independence from the geopolitical decisions of individual corporations or governments. For public authorities, critical-infrastructure operators and regulated sectors, data sovereignty is therefore a prerequisite, not a nice-to-have.

No. The server location alone is not sufficient: if the provider belongs to a US corporation, laws from third countries such as the US CLOUD Act may compel access – regardless of the storage location. GDPR-compliant processing also requires a data processing agreement in accordance with Article 28 of the GDPR, documented technical and organisational measures, and an ownership structure that is governed exclusively by European law.

Data protection regulates how personal data may be processed (GDPR). Data sovereignty goes further: it describes complete control over the location of data, access to it and the applicable law – in other words, independence from external jurisdictions and infrastructures. Data sovereignty is therefore the prerequisite for data protection that remains legally compliant in the long term.

The Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalogue (C5) published by the Federal Office for Information Security is the German benchmark for cloud security. An unrestricted C5:2020 Type 1 certificate – such as that held by centron for ccloud³ / Managed Cloud – confirms, through independent auditing in accordance with ISAE 3000, that the provider’s internal control system meets the BSI criteria. For banks, insurance companies and the public sector, C5 is often a prerequisite.

Yes. Thanks to its unrestricted BSI C5:2020 Type 1 certificate, ISO 27001 certification on the basis of IT-Grundschutz and the fact that data processing takes place exclusively in Germany, centron meets the requirements of regulated sectors – from banking and healthcare to the public sector. centron is also pre-qualified by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), which makes the pre-selection process easier for public sector contracting authorities.

centron is a German alternative to AWS, Azure and Google Cloud: virtual machines from €3.11 per month, managed Kubernetes, S3-compatible object storage and NVIDIA GPUs – operated in its own data centres in Hallstadt near Bamberg, up to 50 per cent cheaper than hyperscalers and without access risks posed by third-country legislation such as the US CLOUD Act. The centron team supports migration projects from proof of concept right through to live operation.

Data sovereignty comes at no extra cost with centron: ccloud³ Virtual Machines start from €3.11 per month (billed by the hour), Managed Kubernetes from €29.99, S3 Object Storage from €0.02/GB with free external traffic, and Cloud GPU from €92.59 per month. New accounts receive a €200 starting credit. This offer is aimed exclusively at businesses.