The Swiss federal government will only buy IT from Swiss companies in future

Impetus

Post Snowengate, the Swiss Federal Government has ordered a large new data network from Swisscom, and resolved only to purchase critical IT infrastructure developed by Swiss companies.

Concerns have been raised in the wake of the NSA affair, there is a risk to the data networks, a high security risk of sensitive data getting into the wrong hands. Services for "the most critical and central" IT infrastructure of the federal gov will be in the future provided by the federal government itself or by companies who "act exclusively under Swiss law, and have the majority of shares in Swiss ownership and produce within the borders of Switzerland, the Federal Council said on Wednesday. This refers to all infrastructure such as telephones, cell phones, computers and networks that are exchanged over the information that may be relevant to the national security.

http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/schweiz/bundesrat-will-mehr-sicherheit-fuer-telekom--und-informatikanlagen-1.18236383

Notus

Impetus wrote: »

Post Snowengate, the Swiss Federal Government has ordered a large new data network from Swisscom, and resolved only to purchase critical IT infrastructure developed by Swiss companies.

Concerns have been raised in the wake of the NSA affair, there is a risk to the data networks, a high security risk of sensitive data getting into the wrong hands. Services for "the most critical and central" IT infrastructure of the federal gov will be in the future provided by the federal government itself or by companies who "act exclusively under Swiss law, and have the majority of shares in Swiss ownership and produce within the borders of Switzerland, the Federal Council said on Wednesday. This refers to all infrastructure such as telephones, cell phones, computers and networks that are exchanged over the information that may be relevant to the national security.

http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/schweiz/bundesrat-will-mehr-sicherheit-fuer-telekom--und-informatikanlagen-1.18236383

A clever thing to do, but is there enough technical experience and companies within and of the Swiss sovereign state to fulfill all these requirements?

Impetus

Notus wrote: »

A clever thing to do, but is there enough technical experience and companies within and of the Swiss sovereign state to fulfill all these requirements?

To anyone visiting Switzerland it becomes apparent that they make most things they consume (as well as services). Most of the food is Swiss produced and processed (eg Nestle - largest food co in the world). Railway infrastructure and trains*. Luxury goods - Cartier, Montblanc, Pret-a-Porter (online fashion shopping), Van Cleef & Arpels, virtually every watch brand is Swiss etc.

*http://www.abb.com
http://www.stadlerrail.com/en/portrait
http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

As for security technology -
http://www.crypto.ch/en
http://infoguard.ch/en
http://www.secude.com/solutions
http://www.ascom.ch/ch-en/index-ch
http://www.securesafe.com/en/security.html
http://swissquantum.idquantique.com/?-Quantum-Cryptography-
http://www.linomasoftware.com/resource-center/case-studies/bank-chooses-crypto-for-backup-encryption
http://www.linomasoftware.com/resource-center/case-studies/bank-chooses-crypto-for-backup-encryption
https://www.swisssign.com/en
https://threema.ch/en/
http://www.seppmail.ch/en
http://www.scrt.ch/en/
http://www.adeya.ch/
http://www.swissphone.com/product/idea-encryption/

I have only scratched the surface with the above list.

Eat your heart out Angela Merkel, tiny Switzerland has far more technological competence than the rest of the EU put together... And no millstone of an EU and the EU tendering process that allows rubbishy supplier to get in the back door of government projects by offering fraudulent cheapo prices, on foot of poorly designed specifications issued by the buying country.

Of course given the Snowden revelations, I don't think there is anything stopping a government agency from buying selectively (ie ignoring EU tendering) in the IT area, given the gravity of the crimes that he revealed to the man in the street of the world. Not unlike issuing firearms to police authorities to deal with criminals!

Notus

Impetus wrote: »

To anyone visiting Switzerland it becomes apparent that they make most things they consume (as well as services). Most of the food is Swiss produced and processed (eg Nestle - largest food co in the world). Railway infrastructure and trains*. Luxury goods - Cartier, Montblanc, Pret-a-Porter (online fashion shopping), Van Cleef & Arpels, virtually every watch brand is Swiss etc.

*http://www.abb.com
http://www.stadlerrail.com/en/portrait
http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

As for security technology -
http://www.crypto.ch/en
http://infoguard.ch/en
http://www.secude.com/solutions
http://www.ascom.ch/ch-en/index-ch
http://www.securesafe.com/en/security.html
http://swissquantum.idquantique.com/?-Quantum-Cryptography-
http://www.linomasoftware.com/resource-center/case-studies/bank-chooses-crypto-for-backup-encryption
http://www.linomasoftware.com/resource-center/case-studies/bank-chooses-crypto-for-backup-encryption
https://www.swisssign.com/en
https://threema.ch/en/
http://www.seppmail.ch/en
http://www.scrt.ch/en/
http://www.adeya.ch/
http://www.swissphone.com/product/idea-encryption/

I have only scratched the surface with the above list.

Eat your heart out Angela Merkel, tiny Switzerland has far more technological competence than the rest of the EU put together... And no millstone of an EU and the EU tendering process that allows rubbishy supplier to get in the back door of government projects by offering fraudulent cheapo prices, on foot of poorly designed specifications issued by the buying country.

Of course given the Snowden revelations, I don't think there is anything stopping a government agency from buying selectively (ie ignoring EU tendering) in the IT area, given the gravity of the crimes that he revealed to the man in the street of the world. Not unlike issuing firearms to police authorities to deal with criminals!

I would be extremely surprised if the Swiss Government could ignore foreign technology to build it information based infrastructure but if you say its true I have to take you at face value.

The Hill Billy

Notus wrote: »

A clever thing to do, but is there enough technical experience and companies within and of the Swiss sovereign state to fulfill all these requirements?

The Swiss are highly innovative & have a solid history of self-reliance. I work in telecoms in Switz & have first hand experience of it. The only thing that may be lacking is Swiss people to do the work. But then again, the Swiss are more than happy to hire foreign workers to make up for the shortfall.

Notus

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The Swiss are highly innovative & have a solid history of self-reliance. I work in telecoms in Switz & have first hand experience of it. The only thing that may be lacking is Swiss people to do the work. But then again, the Swiss are more than happy to hire foreign workers to make up for the shortfall.

So I believe, the same was said to me by a friend no more than a week ago, he too is living and loving in Switzerland.

I didn't know the Swiss were so advance technologically, but there ye are. Its a good thing I think

Impetus

Notus wrote: »

I would be extremely surprised if the Swiss Government could ignore foreign technology to build it information based infrastructure but if you say its true I have to take you at face value.

One of the main components of security technology is AES, which was developed by the University of Leuven in Belgium, which I suspect is at a good distance from the folks at the NSA. All you need then is the expertise to incorporate this basic technology into systems, which the Swiss have.

http://search.kuleuven.be/en/Pages/results.aspx?k=AES&oproep=zoeken

Impetus

Notus wrote: »

So I believe, the same was said to me by a friend no more than a week ago, he too is living and loving in Switzerland.

I didn't know the Swiss were so advance technologically, but there ye are. Its a good thing I think

While the Swiss are happy to hire non-Swiss to do the building work and similar, they like to keep the high level technology jobs to themselves. However they are one of the largest sources of employment for foreign professionals, because they don't have enough of them to meet the demand, with real unemployment traditionally running at over -10%. The Swiss still own and control the companies that hire these foreign workers in most cases. There is a referendum in CH this Sunday on whether or not the free movement of people between the EU and Switzerland should continue.

Switzerland is landlocked - but a company based in the Republic of Geneva is the second largest shipping company in the world!
http://www.mscgva.ch

It was founded in 1970.

meathstevie

Historically the Swiss have to a very large extent provided for their own defence and security needs, including arms from pistols to heavy machineguns, artillery and military vehicles. In the process they have engineered some of the highest quality firearms the world has ever seen, think about Schmidt-Rubin and SIG for example. You'll be hard pressed to find a policeman or soldier who has a bad word to say about their SIG pistol or rifle.

They have constructed some of the best road and rail networks in hostile mountain terrain and maintained it flawlessly.

Swiss corporate expertise in electronics and precision engineering is legendary.

Their healthcare, including research and product development is second to none and so is their education system.

On top of that they are fiercely proud of their neutrality and independence and let's not forget that as a nation they have money to burn.

I'm in no doubt that they'll do exactly as they say and rest assured that if they don't have the technology required they'll simply develop it.