For some time now, this series has been taking a closer look at digital PLM/ALM sovereignty. And then — bam — CONTACT Software delivers.
Okay, probably not just because I post about the topic. But it shows that sovereignty has arrived in the PLM world. With CIM Database Cloud on STACKIT, companies get an option to run their PLM on a European cloud platform.
Without having looked into the details: this is exactly the mindset we need — PLM/ALM offerings that are sovereign, on European-controlled infrastructure.
And I agree: it’s not about “Europe instead of the USA”, but about freedom of choice. Because sovereignty is not an end in itself. Companies should be able to decide
- where their product data resides,
- under which jurisdiction it is operated,
- and on which infrastructure their engineering platform runs.
With PLM/ALM this is especially relevant — because that is usually where a company’s most important intellectual property lives.
By the way, it’s a question I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while: systematically analyzing, for the major PLM and ALM vendors, which cloud infrastructure their SaaS offerings run on and which sovereign operating models exist. For CONTACT, that question is now at least partly answered.
This series asks how sovereignly PLM/ALM can realistically be run today: from the origin of the vendors through operating models and assessment frameworks like the CIA triad and the EU CSF to concrete examples. CONTACT Software’s CIM Database Cloud on STACKIT shows that sovereignty is no longer theory but becoming a purchasing criterion — not as an end in itself, but as freedom of choice.
