Swiss-based Octopus Cloud AG has filled a gap in the market with a new reporting tool for Microsoft SPLA licenses and VMWare vCan. It’s SPLA manager has been on the market for three years now and the solution has been sold not only across Europe and Asia, but also reaching as far as South America and the rest of the world. It was, though, the German market that presented unexpected challenges to the company founders.

When companies need to pay for Microsoft software licences, many turn to Service Provider Licensing Agreements (SPLA). Basically, Service Providers register the amount of licences their customers are using every month with Microsoft and Microsoft invoices based upon these reports. This is advantageous for Microsoft but not necessarily for the Service Provider, as gathering the reports can be a very long-winded process.

Switzerland’s Octopus Cloud AG came up with a solution. Their SPLA Manager collects hardware and software inventory, produces reports at the end of the month, and highlights potential for savings. With this, the Swiss obviously found a real gap in the market. Only founded in 2013, Octopus Cloud AG already has customers spanning the globe.

Up to now, Octopus Cloud had offered its solution through their own data centres in Switzerland. However, the needs of customers in Germany were different; with cloud solutions, local firms put great emphasis on location. Companies associate data centres in Germany with high security and strict data protection.

“Not only customers but also potential European reseller partners made demands that up until then no one had asked for before,” explains Bruno Pauli, Co-CEO of Octopus Cloud. “They wanted, for example, data centres to be certified at a higher security level.”

Octopus Cloud AG therefore looked for a supplier of infrastructure services that were immediately available, subject to German data protection law, and certified to a high security level. It was important the supplier could keep up with the Swiss company’s high rate of expansion. As Pauli says, “Scalability and flexibility were important points for us.” The company founders compared various suppliers and it was soon clear their needs were best met by Open Telekom Cloud.

Telekom’s Public Cloud service is run through the most modern data centres in Saxony-Anhalt. All data that is stored and processed there is subject to strict, German data protection regulations. Independent organisations have approved the high security standards several times; Open Telekom Cloud has been certified with TÜV Trusted Cloud Service and CSA Star Level 2 Gold Award. Furthermore, Experton Group’s analysts have rated Telekom as a leading supplier of security solutions in their Security Vendor Benchmark 2016.

“An instantly scalable solution based on OpenStack with such high security and data protection standards from a well-known supplier is currently unparalleled,” according to Pauli. “It was therefore clear that we should move our SPLA Manager to the Open Telekom Cloud.”

It happened very quickly; after just one day the first server was ready to use. After four weeks of implementation and test phases, the Swiss company moved completely from Swiss data centres to the Open Telekom Cloud. Since then, SPLA Manager has been operating completely from German data centres.

Now, there is nothing to stop the conquest of the German market. As Pauli says, “If we get questions about data protection and data security, we just mention the Open Telekom Cloud. Amazingly, there are usually no follow-up questions. The great reputation of Telekom’s Public Cloud is trustworthy - plain and simple.”

What’s more, using the Open Telekom Cloud is much simpler, quicker and more cost-effective for the Swiss company. Octopus Cloud can scale resources immediately on demand. For example, the company can benefit from shorter development times for new functions and solutions. Thanks to precise, hourly-based invoicing, the company only pays for what it has actually used.

“If one of our employees has an idea, they can simply deploy a server and play around. When they are finished, the server is powered down,” Pauli explains. With Cloud Turbo, the Swiss company has the achieved the optimal basis for continued growth.

• Company: Octopus Cloud AG
• Location: Zug / Schweiz
• Industry: SaaS solutions

The company:
The Swiss start-up Octopus Cloud AG offers the first automated SPLA (Services Provider Licence Agreement) reporting for Microsoft Service Providers worldwide. The Octopus SPLA Manager offers monthly licence reporting on demand from a secure cloud. The company is certified by KPMG and shows significant growth thanks to customers in Europe, Asia, and South America.

The challenge:
Octopus SPLA Manager’s inventory scanning and licensing algorithm engine needed to calculate licensing demands appropriate processing and memory capacity. The company had the highest demands for data protection and security and was looking for scalable IaaS solution which were immediately available to support the company’s rapid international growth. Furthermore, personal consultancy by an experienced partner was wanted from the very beginning.

The solution:
Octopus Cloud AG now uses Open Telekom Cloud as Infrastructure-as-a-Service for its SaaS offer, run through T-System’s highly secure data centre in Biere. Web, database, and FTP servers are available at short notice and deployed flexibly according to need. The solution is easily managed via Open Telekom Cloud’s Self Service Portal. The company also benefits from personal support through T-Systems and has the option to use Telekom’s shop as a wide-reaching sales channel.

The result:
After implementing Open Telekom Cloud, Octopus Cloud AG can take advantage of quicker, simpler, and more cost-effective deployment of infrastructure services than ever before, and can enjoy a secure future even when expanding thanks to highly scalable, elastic infrastructure, and T-Systems as an experienced partner. Questions are answered immediately through individual support, the pay-per-use pricing structure saves investment in IT infrastructure, and available budgets are freed for further development. Data protection and security are carried out according to German data protection regulations.

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