Beyond.pl is the first Polish partner of VMware Sovereign Cloud program

VMware research shows that ensuring data sovereignty is challenging for 95% of large organizations. Beyond.pl, a provider of secure data center, cloud, and Managed Services in Central Europe, is the first in Poland to join VMware’s global Sovereign Cloud program. This is a new level of service quality in Beyond.pl’s cloud and managed services offering benefiting customers who are looking for services which are compliant with local regulatory requirements, full data processing security, and a guarantee that data is stored locally.

There are approximately 40 VMware Sovereign Cloud partners in a community of 10,000 partners  worldwide.  Beyond.pl is the first in Poland and 9th provider in Europe to obtain the VMware Sovereign Cloud status. Beyond.pl has specialized in building and maintaining private and public VMware cloud environments for more than 10 years for customers in the European Union and is currently one of the largest VMware Cloud Service Providers in the Central European region. Beyond.pl is VMware Cloud Verified, which confirms the high competence of its virtualization teams and ability to access and deliver the latest VMware technology solutions supported by VMware engineers on projects for customers on an as needed basis.

VMware Sovereign Cloud is a global program that aims to create an ecosystem of trusted, local cloud service providers that guarantee customers complete security, sovereignty and integrity of data processing within the cloud solutions they build and operate. The cloud service providers must undergo a thorough vetting process to ensure that they  meet defined conditions to be accepted into the program: among others, offer services through at least two data centers operating within the same jurisdiction, have an information security management system validated by an independent, industry-recognized certification, comply with technical and operational requirements related to the deployment, configuration, management and monitoring of infrastructure as well as with environmental policies.

– Sovereignty, understood as processing data exclusively within a single country or region, is fundamental for many industries and organizations. Companies are continuously increasing the processing of sensitive information while concurrently increasing their exposure to cloud services. This means they must be guaranteed complete data processing security while ensuring compliance with applicable laws, among others laws relating to the processing and protecting of personal data. As a VMware Sovereign Cloud partner, we provide this guarantee to our customers in Poland and the greater European region,” – explains Wojciech Stramski, Beyond.pl CEO.

Beyond.pl’s partnership in the VMware Sovereign Cloud program opens up new opportunities for customers using or migrating to the cloud. It allows customers to utilize the services provided by Beyond.pl to create solutions based on VMware Cloud that ensure complete security of processed data and compliance with legal requirements, at the national and EU level with concurrent respect for industry specific regulations which can often times be more stringent. By processing data on dedicated infrastructure in local data centers, Beyond.pl ensures that their privacy is preserved and that data does not leave the jurisdiction required by legislation, it is properly stored, secured, and protected. This is a great benefit to customers who are seeking to ensure compliance with current and future regulations on data privacy and sovereignty and specific industry requirements.

VMware’s cloud environment is available in Beyond.pl’s data centers located in Poznan connected by a redundant, dedicated, and secure private fiber-optic ring of 11 km in one direction and 10 km in the other direction, which guarantees customers high availability of the service (High Availability) both between the data centers and in each facility separately. Beyond. pl’s Data Center 2 is currently the only data center in the European Union that holds the EN 50600 Class 4 standard and ANSI/TIA-942 Rated 4 certification. Since the launch of the facility in Poznan (strategically located halfway between Warsaw and Berlin) in 2016, it has delivered 100% uptime to its customers. The services provided comply with international standards: ISO 27001, PCI DSS, SOC 2 type 1 and type 2, ISO 14001.

– As an experienced provider of cloud services, including to regulated sectors, we have the expertise to meet the market’s growing demands. A modern, secure, and localized in in the heart of Europe in Poland data center infrastructure, experience in managing complex VMware environments, qualified engineering teams, and certifications confirming our standards provide our customers confidence that their data is in safe hands, – adds Wojciech Darlowski, Beyond.pl Management Board Member for Cloud and Managed Services.

The Vanson Bourne report commissioned by VMware found that as many as 137 of the 194 countries analyzed worldwide have regulations governing how data should be stored within their borders. Most of these regulations are constantly changing. This is a challenge for companies and influential organizations operating globally. Those that do not comply with data autonomy rules end up paying millions in fines and jeopardizing their brand reputation. Not surprisingly, ensuring data sovereignty is a significant challenge for as many as 95% of the organizations surveyed.

– Prior to the digital transformation, information management was much more straightforward. Data resided predominantly on company computers, usually in one physical location. Today, as we operate in a multi-cloud reality, data is dispersed globally between different data center locations. This raises several concerns related to where this data actually is, who owns it, and who can access it. This is especially true for sensitive data and companies operating in regulated industries, – VMware’s Poland Country Manager, Arkadiusz Sikora explains.  – VMware Sovereign Cloud is the answer to these questions and concerns. By working with verified partners, such as Beyond.pl, customers are assured that their data is appropriately secured and processed in compliance with local laws.

The entering of Beyond.pl into the program was preceded by a thorough verification process. VMware Sovereign Cloud members are the only such cloud service providers who meet stringent conditions of the VMware Validated Designs (VVD) standard, which covers technical and operational aspects of deploying, configuring, managing, and monitoring virtualization infrastructure. Another requirement of the program is to ensure that cloud services are delivered in a sustainable model. Beyond.pl confirmed its competence in this area in 2022 when, among others, it became the first Polish VMware Zero Carbon Committed partner. This is VMware’s initiative to ensure it meets its zero-carbon goal by 2030. Beyond.pl meets all the fundamental principles of the initiative, including using 100% green energy to power its data centers, while concurrently operating its facilities to make sure that they are among the most energy-efficient in the CEE region (PUE of 1.2), while implementing a multitude of sustainability initiatives.      

Currently, Beyond.pl works with 500+ Polish and international clients providing IT infrastructure support services, including colocation, cloud (public, private, multicloud), hybrid solutions and Managed Services. And being located in the very heart of Europe (4ms latency to Berlin and Warsaw, 7ms latency to Prague, and 11 ms to Frankfurt), with fiber infrastructure of global Tier 1 and major regional players hosted in its facilities  connecting the East with the West and South with the North, Beyond.pl is perfectly positioned to support companies both present and looking to deploy a presence in Central and Eastern Europe.

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• Beyond.pl is the first Polish partner of VMware Sovereign Cloud program