IT infrastructure software "Made in Germany" for self-hosters and providers

The OSL UVE was developed specifically to be used in a self-hosted data center with the purpose of storage virtualisation and clustering in mind. Therefore our solution has a hardware and software architecture design which is logical, easy to understand, robust and efficient. A highly portable storage virtualisation and cluster engine developed by OSL was customized specifically for the UVE to be used with an abstract (and therefore in principle exchangeable) hypervisor. This way separate layers of the complete solution work together perfectly, but at the same time without having disturbing dependencies, ensuring good performance and high availability.

This is one of the main principles for OSL: from design to the solution (hardware, software, processes, user interfaces) and all the way to the internal implementation in the process of development we focus on the simplicity and the reliability. Otherwise a small company like OSL would not be able to dare to compete with much larger enterprises and their complex solutions.

In the fast-developing IT world there is always a danger to follow a hype and to find oneself in a technological dead-end street or to be caught in a cost trap. The way for the commercial and professional users to deal with this challenge is probably in finding a balance between utilizing the chances of the new developments, on the one hand, without endangering the basis of the continuous and reliable business processes, on the other hand. Besides the many pseudo-standards, that basically only exist(ed) to secure the market positions, we can also observe technologies and standards staying stable in the long term, like e.g. ANSI-C, Ethernet and TCP/IP, SCSI or NVMe. OSL relies exclusively on a minimal set of well-established standards when developing own technologies. Thanks to this we are able to implement IT architectures with long-term stability that stay reliable even when replacing individual components. That means an increadibly free selection of the hardware and the system software for the end user, which offers certain protection from uncontrollably exploding costs. A vendor lock-in is avoided or at least reduced.

At first sight, the decision-makers might appear to have only three options to choose from:

1. Standalone data center operation with commercial products: One falls into the hands of the market leaders and surrenders technologically and commercially to their business models.
2. Cloud: One goes to the cloud, surrenders technologically and commercially to business models of the cloud providers ("XY as a Service") and forfeits the sovereignty over data and processes and also the related know-how.
3. Standalone data center operation with Open Source: One relies consequently on Open Source. Unfortunately, however, many open-source projects have a focus different from operating a data center. And: they are usually not a product. The high amount of required engineering efforts makes you very much dependent on external consultants. Or: Maybe your IT experts always wanted to put a guru topic XY into their CVs, and after having completed an expensive and hopefully successful implementation you suddenly do not have any of your experts anymore. All this does not have much to do with your applications and processes.

OSL offers a fourth option - to prepare a working VM infrastructure in cooperation with partners, and to keep it running. While your system house that knows your business requirements implements together with OSL the optimal infrastructure according to the guidelines from your IT experts, your team has enough time to take care of the specific concerns and processes of your organization.

Of course also the OSL UVE cannot eliminate all the risks posed by complex hardware and software stacks (doesn't matter, whether coming from a market leader or based to a large extent on open-source projects). However: No carrier will get an idea to buy the vehicles as a construction kit and to let its own drivers or car mechanics to assemble them, not even if they know how to do it. In the same way, it makes sense to let the OSL partners to prepare your software-defined data center / your VM infrastructure, so that you can operate it professionally with your own team afterwards. You can stay focused on your business and as free as possible from the details and risks of complex systems.

We also had to have this experience: if one really has a problem, it can take weeks or months until the submitted support request finally reaches a point where a really proficient ingeneer or developer examines the issue. And of course one would wish it would go differently.
In the small OSL team everyone is more or less engineer, developer and supporter. Issue reports appear immediately on the radar and it is a matter of honour to not let the user "sweat it out". And: With the respective maintenance contract you talk from the very beginning to a system engineer that understands your problem and can help you right away or can at least directly initiate the necessary action.
OSL has a support model suitable for your company: from the maintenance 7x24 with 2 hours reaction time, to the pure software subscription.

OSL follows a cooperative business model with the focus on the mutual benefit, adheres to the strengthening of the autonomy and to acting responsibly, respectfully, in accordance with fundamental humanistic values. For OSL all the partners and clients are „key accounts“. We listen to you and for us the importance of your IT is obvious. Strategically, the autonomy, resilience and sustainability are more important than efficiency at any cost. In the end, what matters are the people and the quality of life. We have the chance to create something special together and for each other. The money is here only a means for organization and exchange. We are looking forward for inspiring collaboration and shared experiences.

Our solutions, especially our software, are developed and supported exclusively by a well-coordinated, professional OSL team of permanent employees in Germany. Everywhere in this world there are people with good ideas and creative energy. We want to be a part of this community, but as a German company we are focused on the needs of the local and European users, we speak their language, in the good tradition of the German engineering we are questioning the dominant concepts of the IT metropolises, and we try - if necessary - to develop alternative, simple but still perfect solutions that would put smiles on the faces of our users.