from Franziska Ackermann Published on: 23.06.2022

Probably the most modern data center in Switzerland is located in a suburb of Bern. It opened in 2014 and cost 60 million francs.

Is our customers’ data really safe?

To find out, we make our way to the Swisscom data center in Wankdorf, where Begasoft AG hosts our customers’ data. Not even the high temperatures can keep us from our plan.

Access control to the data center is strictly regulated for both employees and visitors. Personal items stay outside – including our mobile phones. All rooms are monitored with video cameras and the security service is on site 24/7.

On a guided tour we learn that all systems that are necessary for uninterrupted operation are designed redundantly. This guarantees an availability of 99.995 percent. Of course, we also get the explanation of what is meant by that. This means that the downtime per year must not exceed 30 minutes, thus proving that our identification solution is “highly available”.

What also convinces us: The electricity in the data center is sourced from 100 percent local and sustainable energy. The computers are cooled indirectly with outside air and rainwater and the waste heat flows entirely into the city of Bern’s heating network. These and other measures contribute to achieving an energy efficiency of 84% (corresponds to a PUE value of 1.2).

With hosting in the most modern data center in Switzerland, fidentity makes an important contribution to more energy efficiency. According to a study by myclimate , purchasing IT services from the cloud saves up to 90 percent energy compared to operating your own servers.

The conclusion of our visit

There is no such thing as 100 percent security. But more security is (almost) not possible. 💪

Hardly surprising, after all, the data center was awarded the Tier IV certificate by the Uptime Institute. It thus meets the highest requirements in terms of availability, security and efficiency.

Security instructions in front of the data center: We will soon have to part with our personal belongings, exchange an official identification document for a visitor badge and pass a metal detector.

An exclusive view: Thorsten Hau (CEO) with Edi Spring (CTO) and David Strahm (Senior Software Engineer) visit the fidentity IT infrastructure operated by Begasoft in the Bern-Wankdorf data center.