History
History of the SCS Project
The SCS project was launched in November 2019 by Peter Ganten, Kurt Garloff, Rafael Laguna and Oliver Mauss. In the initial phase, the project received start-up funding from SPRIND, the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovations.
Between 2021 and December 2024, we received funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) for the development and deployment of the Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS).
This funded project has given rise to an active community and the SCS Standards Forum of the Open Source Business Alliance (OSBA). This forum officially commenced its work following the expiry of the funding period in early 2025.
Through the community and the SCS-Standards forum, SCS will continue to exist as a European initiative even beyond the funding phase. Together, we are creating an open, transparent and vendor-neutral cloud ecosystem, whilst ensuring sovereignty and interoperability.
In addition to the joint work on standardisation, the SCS open-source project has also successfully moved beyond the funding phase and become self-sustaining.
The three pillars of SCS
The project has resulted in the three pillars of SCS, which are continually being developed further within the SCS Standards Forum and the SCS Community.
Building on this, the Sovereign Cloud Stack defines clear rules for quality and interoperability – rules that are transparent, jointly developed and certifiable. This makes sovereign cloud solutions measurable and visible.
The certifiable SCS standards are developed openly, collaboratively and in line with requirements. In a continuous process, the community creates a reliable framework for secure cloud infrastructures.
The modular software stack provides open source implementations and thus shows how a sovereign cloud works in practice. The software stack is based on proven projects that have already been used to build certified environments, such as OpenStack and Kubernetes, is developed by the community and offers a turnkey basis for your own cloud infrastructures with the modules.
A clear central goal of SCS is to promote skills and knowledge. Open collaboration, documentation and exchange create a culture in which skills, experience and innovation are shared.
Final report on the funded project
The final report on the funded project is available in the following sections:
- Part 1: Cover page and brief report (2 pages)
- Part 2: Performance Review Report (20 pages)
- Appendix to Part 2: Publications