Hannover Messe UPDATE: Virtual trade fair stand in preparation

As you know, HANNOVER MESSE cannot take place this year due to the Corona pandemic and the increasingly critical situation. Thus, the trade fair appearance planned by nicos AG as part of the joint stand of the IDSA (International Data Spaces Association) will inevitably be cancelled, too.

Even if HANNOVER MESSE 2020 is cancelled, there are ways to meet with business partners and interested parties – virtually! Therefore, the International Data Spaces Association is currently preparing a “virtual booth”, where nicos AG will also be represented.

We have found a safe way to meet each other even in times of the Corona pandemic and are looking forward to your virtual visit.

More info:

COVID-19: Information concerning the Corona crisis

COVID-19: Information concerning the Corona crisis

Dear clients and business partners,

nicos AG is permanently looking at the development in connection with COVID-19, which presents us all with unexpected challenges. In this extraordinarily difficult situation, nicos AG is aware of its special responsibility as an operator of critical infrastructures towards its employees, clients and business partners.

It is and will remain our primary goal to maintain the same reliable service for all of you and your companies under the given circumstances. Our employees continue to work hard – even under these adverse circumstances – to ensure that protected collaboration and secure data exchange between all locations worldwide are nevertheless guaranteed.

nicos has implemented extensive preventive measures for the most stable business operation and the maximum possible protection of all employees:

• Many of our employees work in the home office and are ready to return to the Münster location at any time, if urgently required.
• Our 24/7 Service Operation Center (SOC) and all necessary technical systems are still fully operational. Even in the event of a closure of the Münster location, we have taken all measures currently possible to ensure that the SOC remains fully operational for as long as possible even under these circumstances.
•  Our partners have also promised us extensive protective measures to ensure the continuous availability of your infrastructure.
• Nearly all appointments and meetings – whether within the nicos AG team or in cooperation with our customers and business partners – are held virtually.

In spite of all preventive measures, it cannot be excluded that performance restrictions may occur if the risk situation expands, which we will of course try to avoid.

We are convinced that, together with our employees, clients and business partners, we will withstand and master this extraordinarily difficult situation. We are still available for all our clients and business partners via the same contact data. Therefore, please do not hesitate to contact us with your request.

Take care of yourself and above all stay healthy!

Yours Thomas Brosch & Axel Metzger
Members of the Management Board of nicos AG

nicos AG at the Hannover Messe 2020

Come and visit us!

nicos AG will be represented again this year’s Hannover Messe (July 13 to 17, 2020).

You will find us at the joint stand of the International Data Spaces Association (IDS) in Hall 16, Booth F03.

We are looking forward to your visit and exciting discussions!

nicos AG is specialized in the planning, implementation and reliable 24/7 operations of secure, global data networks.

With the know-how of 20 years of global market experience, we provide high-performance IT infrastructure solutions – tailored to our clients’ specific requirements, with state-of-the-art technologies and economically attractive – for protected collaboration and secure data exchange between locations worldwide.

At Hannover Messe 2020, we are represented in Hall 16 “Digital Ecosystems” at the joint booth of the International Data Spaces Association (Booth No. F03).

More info:

www.hannovermesse.de

www.internationaldataspaces.org

Secure in the Cloud!

How to seamlessly integrate cloud services into your corporate network

… without compromising on transparency and security!

With the growing range of cloud services, the issue of security is increasingly coming into focus. Public cloud vendors generally only protect their own infrastructure against attacks and only take responsibility for the overall security of the data center, the cloud platform and the network infrastructure. According to the principle of shared responsibility, the customer is responsible for the data stored in the public cloud.

Using multiple cloud platforms makes it increasingly difficult to achieve transparency and efficient security. As your company provides different security solutions for each cloud platform, the risk of security vulnerabilities, complexity, and compliance monitoring problems increase.

Security requirements for the use of cloud services

An effective cloud security strategy is based on the following components:

• Monitoring of all security incidents of the cloud used
  Use the mechanisms or sources of information made available by the respective cloud provider and automatically integrate them into your existing monitoring.
• Risk management for all cloudsDepending on the cloud provider, consider what types of data are to be stored and processed in the appropriate clouds. In particular, the commitments of the providers in terms of physical location are crucial here.
• Consistent compliance with security policies throughout the entire network
  Raise the awareness of your company’s employees and inform users that the cloud is not part of the internal network, but a platform that is protected, but still partly available on the Internet and accessible to the public.
• Compliance with legal regulationsWhen deciding which data to store and process in the cloud, legal regulations such as the GDPR as well as ISO certifications are relevant.
• Uniform user and action-based authentification
  When choosing cloud providers, make sure they can integrate in your company’s existing authentification mechanisms.

Where dedicated network connections reach their limits and managed VPN connections offer more security

For a secure connection from the corporate network to the public cloud, the leading public cloud providers AWS and Azure provide a service that establishes a dedicated network connection to the respective public cloud. This service is suitable for connecting a central location to the respective cloud provider. However, when connecting globally networked and fully meshed branches, the service reaches its limits.

Therefore, for reasons of security and flexibility, it is advisable to establish managed VPN connections to the cloud gateway in certain regions to provide services centrally.

In this case, a virtual firewall in a public cloud can be set up as a VPN destination to connect your locations in the respective region and to ensure that the corresponding public cloud services can be used via this secure connection.

This ensures seamless integration of cloud services into your corporate network – without compromising on transparency and security!

Learn more. Talk to us.

How smart migration allows you to restructure your WAN in a manner that minimizes risks and is cost-efficient

Digitalization and the increased use of cloud services demand higher bandwidths. Generally, this requires a restructuring of the company network, as the existing network is unable to keep up with the new requirements. Frequently, the WAN is migrated using the “big bang principle.” However, this comes with numerous risks. Furthermore, this may also negatively impact business operations under certain circumstances. A “smart” migration minimizes operational risks, costs, and labor.

Big bang migration

During a big bang migration, it is generally the case that all existing lines are completely replaced with new ones. Although they are equivalent—with the same bandwidths, SLAs, and the same carrier—they require new IP addresses to be assigned and set up, as well as adaptations to local IT infrastructure. This in turn results in costs and operational risks.

Furthermore, starting from a certain size, lines with different, non-harmonized contractual terms exists in all data networks, such that a migration may lead to significant duplicate or transfer costs if the restructuring of the WAN is simultaneously accompanied by a change in service provider.

Therefore, a big bang migration results in additional risks and disadvantages:

• High one-time costs for line reconfigurations
• Double line costs during parallel set-up and for residual contract periods
• High IT resource costs for migrations
• Long project times with at least two parallel providers
• Uncertainties when planning migration due to delays or unexpected problems
• Operational disruptions due to missing functions during installation
• Unknown service processes of new, local carrier and line quality
• “Frictional losses” due to transition and change in contact partners and responsibilities and/or disputes regarding responsibilities between old and new service provider
• Coordination costs and coordination of schedule with multiple parties involved in project
• High complexity of overall project

But migration can be done smartly—in a manner that minimizes risks and is cost-efficient.

Smart migration aims to minimize operational risks and reduce the amount of time required.

A smart migration makes it possible to replace lines at a commercially favorable point in time, depending on the structure of the data network. This almost completely avoids operational risks without neglecting economic aspects and quality parameters.

The targeted installation of redundancies and quality improvement measures allow the availability and performance of the overall network to be achieved.

If quality defects are identified in existing WAN lines of the previous provider, they can be prioritized in the migration process in order to more rapidly achieve the desired performance and stability.

Furthermore, a smart migration also offers additional benefits & advantages:

• Reduction in the complexity of IT infrastructure via the integration of multiple network components into a virtual platform
• Improvement in user experience thanks to the use of innovative routing algorithms
• Increased level of security via more transparency, in particular with regard to new services and applications
• Scalability and flexibility for connecting and operating additional sites and custom lines
• Additional security thanks to the encryption of all data traffic
• True redundancy via multi-carrier strategy
• Active use of all existing lines after re-conceptualization based on SD-WAN

The resulting added value is obvious.

Added value:

• Minimization of costs, labor, and operational risks
• Shorter project duration
• Flexible schedule by separating the transfer of responsibility from the migration process
• Faster achievement of cost and quality advantages
• Single partner with overall responsibility from the very beginning

Find out more about how you can migrate your WAN smartly, cost-efficiently, and with minimal risk. Get in touch with us.

nicos AG at Hannover Messe 2019: Premiere of the motic® Broker

Münster-based network specialist nicos provides data sovereignty in protected data spaces

“Industrial Intelligence—Networking Man and Machine in the Era of AI” is the motto of this year’s Hannover Messe, which will take place from April 1–5 for the 72nd time in the state capital of Lower Saxony. More than 6,500 exhibitors from 75 countries will be presenting their latest innovations on the expo grounds of Deutsche Messe AG. nicos AG will also be represented at the leading global expo for the industry. At the joint booth of the International Data Spaces Association in Hall 8, Booth C25, nicos will be presenting its use case “Management of Things, Identities, and Credentials and the motic^® Broker for protected data spaces.” These measures for data sovereignty in IoT components ensure secure and trusted data communications in the era of digitization.

Management of Things, Identities, and Credentials in production facilities

nicos AG specializes in secure, global data networks. With high-performance IT infrastructure, the network specialists enable the collaboration and the secure exchange of data across different locations. This is the basis for smart factories. The prime objective is ensuring users retain sovereignty over their data.

In production facilities, workpieces communicate with machines and control the production process. The prerequisite for trusted data communications is reliable proof of the level of technical security achieved by the communication partners involved. This is where motic^® Broker, developed by nicos, comes in:

motic^® stands for “Management of Things, Identities, and Credentials.” motic^® Broker addresses the questions of who is permitted to use which data, for what purpose, for which time period, and under which conditions. Decisions regarding whether—and if so which—data is exchanged are defined in guidelines and based on authentic information regarding the identity and security level of the participants. In addition to the authorization mechanisms and use controls for the communication participants in production facilities, motic^® Broker also offers options for monitoring and logging transactions.

With motic^® Broker, nicos AG provides another core component for the International Data Spaces (IDS) ecosystem, which is also the basis for advanced data processing such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.

International Data Spaces: protected virtual data spaces

International Data Spaces are virtual data spaces which enable the secure exchange of data and the simple linking of data in business ecosystems based on standards and with the aid of joint governance models. Data is securely networked “on demand” when it is queried by certified, trusted partners.

Identity Provider: the heart of IDS architecture

Already at the 2018 Hannover Messe, nicos presented one of the core components of the overall IDS architecture with Identity Provider. It is only with this key module that the participating interfaces have the ability to authorize and authenticate themselves. This allows the user to prove their identity to the system. It is only then that they can communicate with other users. In this case, the data provider possesses information which it provides to other participants in the International Data Space. Thanks to the IDS Identity Provider, this data is only exchanged when it is requested by certified partners. Participants retain sovereignty over their own data at all times.

At Hannover Messe 2019, nicos AG will be presenting its use case Management of Things, Identities, and Credentials: motic^® Broker for a Secure Data Room at the joint booth of the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) in Hall 8, Booth C25.