Swiss S3
Swiss S3: S3-API object storage (AWS CLI, rclone, SDKs), hosted and replicated in Switzerland. WORM-compatible. Encryption is optional.
Use cases: Velero backups, GPU datasets, WORM archives, media. Optional encryption. Everything stays in Switzerland, with an operator that has no US parent.
Existing clients: AWS CLI, rclone, SDKs, Velero.
WORM-compatible: immutable objects for archives and retention.
Optional encryption on object storage.
Objects hosted and replicated in Switzerland, across the three datacenters.
WORM: two modes
WORM (Write Once Read Many): once written, an object is not overwritten or deleted during the retention period. Two strengths: still able to fix an ops mistake, or prove to an auditor that nobody can erase.
Governance
Internal policy, backups, CI artefacts, datasets you do not want overwritten by accident.
Most users cannot change or delete. A privileged account can still lift protection if retention was set wrongly.
Advantage: day-to-day immutability without locking yourself out. This is “we protect ourselves from ourselves”.
Compliance
Regulated archives, finance, public sector, retention the audit file requires.
Nobody can change, delete or shorten retention before it ends, including an administrator.
Advantage: proof of immutability. This is “the auditor asks whether we can still erase”.
Both modes stay in Switzerland, across the three datacenters. Encryption is a separate option, not a substitute for WORM.
Swiss S3: capabilities
| Capability | Hikube |
|---|---|
| API | S3-compatible |
| S3 | 0.02 CHF/GB/month |
| S3 encrypted | 0.03 CHF/GB/month |
| WORM | Governance and compliance |
| Encryption | Optional |
| Residency | Switzerland, 3 DCs |
Yes for common operations (put/get/list, credentials, buckets) with AWS CLI, rclone and SDKs. WORM and optional encryption are in scope. CRR to a US region is not the product. Test your tool in the trial.
S3 compatibility takes half an hour to verify and six months of unpleasant surprises to assume. The order below goes from the most common to the most specific: stop at the first point that fails, that is the one to have confirmed.
Object storage keeps whole files addressed by a key, reachable from anywhere over HTTP: archives, third-party tool backups, datasets, media. Block storage is a disk attached to a machine, on which a filesystem writes blocks: that is what a database sees, and it does not open onto the internet, block storage. Backup as a Service is a copy and restore service, not a place to put things: it can bring a VM back, which no bucket can, managed backup. The expensive confusion is taking an S3 bucket for a recovery plan. All three can coexist, and often must.
No. Encryption protects content at rest (optional). WORM protects against overwrite and deletion during retention. They are often combined: encrypted, immutable archives, still in Switzerland.
So backups, GPU datasets and media stay in the same jurisdiction as compute. A us-east-1 bucket next to a Swiss VM breaks the file. The TCO calculator gives a compute/storage range; an engineer quote settles GPU and Windows.
Related products
No. Hikube is a sovereign cloud: compute, storage, backups and metadata stay on three independent Swiss datacenters (Geneva, Gland, Lucerne). There is no replication to the EU or the United States.
The operator is Hidora SA, a Swiss company in Lancy (Geneva), with no US parent. Compute, storage, backups and metadata stay in Geneva, Gland and Lucerne. That is not the same legal basis as AWS, Azure or GCP. We are not your counsel: GDPR for EU data in Switzerland relies in particular on adequacy.
Through the Hikube API and the console. Terraform and Cluster API integration in preparation. kubectl, Helm and S3 clients stay. Docs: docs.hikube.cloud.
Yes. Two modes: governance (a privileged account can still fix a bad retention) and compliance (unalterable until the period ends, including for an administrator).
Yes. Encryption is an option on Hikube S3. Data stays in Switzerland.
14-day trial, no credit card. GPUs included.
