Zscaler, the cybersecurity platform for the AI era, and Schwarz Digits, the IT and digital division of Schwarz Group, have announced a strategic partnership.
The collaboration combines the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform with Schwarz Digits’ European sovereign cloud STACKIT. This creates a sovereign Zero Trust Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) service designed to prevent AI-driven threats and increase cyber resilience. Now available to customers across Europe, this offering is hosted in German data centres and operated by STACKIT. Whilst built for organisations across every industry, the solution is tailored specifically for mission-critical operations in public administration, defence, financial services, and healthcare.
European customers are increasingly demanding sovereign technology while cybersecurity threats continue to escalate rapidly in scale, speed and sophistication, driven in particular by the use of AI by malicious actors. At the same time, European regulations including NIS2, DORA, the AI Act, and others have elevated cybersecurity to a board-level priority. Organisations must address digital sovereignty concerns whilst also meeting strict cybersecurity regulatory requirements and not losing sight of performance demands. This balancing act can be difficult to achieve.
Schwarz Digits and Zscaler solve these needs simultaneously by deploying the Zscaler security platform in Schwarz Digits’ data centres to deliver a holistic Zero Trust SASE sovereign cloud approach. Organisations can now secure their hybrid workforce while meeting demanding operational resilience and supply-chain security expectations. The joint offering covers the deployment, management, operation, and support of a state-of-the-art cybersecurity cloud platform, so that customer data and operations remain protected against cyber threats and aligned with European legal requirements.
Christian Müller, CEO of Schwarz Digits, explains: “Technological independence begins with infrastructure. Through this partnership, we are taking network security to a new level: we are evolving existing security architectures and focusing on high-performance identity verification. For our customers, this means even stronger protection against cyberattacks.”
“In an era of AI-driven cyber threats, a modern Zero Trust SASE solution is the only effective way to protect sensitive enterprise data,” says Misha Kuperman, Chief Reliability Officer at Zscaler. “Our partnership with Schwarz Digits is a concrete demonstration of our long-term commitment to Europe: Together, we help our customers eliminate their attack surface and prevent the lateral movement of threats, while still maintaining compliance with European regulations through EU data residency. This enables the highest level of security while aligning with European digital sovereignty regulations.”
“Our customers in the private and public sector need secure, resilient IT infrastructure without compromising on digital sovereignty. By uniting the expertise of two technology leaders, we make this a reality: Zscaler provides an advanced Zero Trust SASE architecture to counter AI-driven cyberattacks, while Schwarz Digits ensures a sovereign cloud infrastructure through STACKIT. This helps to ensure all data remains in the EU and is protected against third-party access,” says Bernd Wagner, CSO of Schwarz Digits.
