OpenBusiness

What OpenBusiness does

OpenBusiness SA is a privately held Swiss IT solutions provider headquartered in Lausanne, offering an integrated portfolio of four service categories: Infrastructure & Hosting, Cybersecurity & Compliance, Development & AI, and IT Management & Support. The company operates the proprietary SwissCenter datacenter platform, which provides Tier III certified hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, colocation, and private/hybrid cloud built on VMware vSphere and Proxmox with multi-site redundancy and a 99.99% uptime SLA. Its cybersecurity stack includes a 24/7 SOC with centralized SIEM, next-generation firewalls (Fortinet, Sophos), anti-DDoS, EDR/XDR endpoint protection, and compliance services supporting PCI DSS, GDPR, ISO, and FINMA standards. The development and AI arm delivers custom web applications, generative AI integration using third-party foundation models (GPT, Claude), autonomous AI agents, intelligent chatbots, e-commerce platforms, and ERP/CRM integration, while the IT management practice provides systems administration, DevOps/CI/CD (Ansible, Terraform, Kubernetes), and tiered L1/L2/L3 support with permanent staffing.

The company's business model is built on quote-based, recurring managed services contracts supplemented by one-time custom development project revenue. It employs a direct enterprise sales motion with 'Request a Quote' and 'Talk to an Engineer' CTAs on its website, targeting Swiss and international companies that require local Swiss data residency and regulatory compliance. Named customers include Logitech, WNG GROUP, Fondation de Verdeil, wooper.ch, Régie at Home, and TIRUS INTERNATIONAL. The company claims 5,000+ clients served since its founding as SwissLink in 1991, rebranded to OpenBusiness SA in 1996 under an IP-protocol focus, and led since 1998 by CEO and sole shareholder Nicolas Fertig (sole shareholder since 2005). With a disclosed headcount of 1-10 employees, OpenBusiness operates as a lean, founder-controlled business with its delivery model likely relying on subcontracted engineering capacity.

Name

OpenBusiness

Legal name

OpenBusiness SA

Website

https://openbusiness.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

OpenBusiness SA is a Swiss IT solutions provider offering integrated hosting, cybersecurity, custom development with AI, and managed IT services to 5,000+ clients from its Lausanne headquarters, operating the proprietary SwissCenter Tier III datacenter platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Managed IT Services

NAICS

Computer Facilities Management Services (541513), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Data Center Operations & Managed Services (Remote Hands, NOC/SOC) (HDABANAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Service Desk & ITSM Outsourcing (BPAEAMAF), Advanced Analytics & Data Science Services (BPAEAHAE)

Keywords

• Managed hosting services
• Cybersecurity compliance
• Cloud infrastructure services
• IT outsourcing solutions
• Custom software development

Headquarters

HQ city

Lausanne

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Infrastructure & Hosting Services: Recurring managed services revenue from shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, colocation, and private/hybrid cloud solutions. Tier III certified infrastructure with 99.99% uptime guarantees.
2. Cybersecurity Services: Recurring SOC monitoring, SIEM, pentesting, security audits, and compliance services (PCI DSS, ISO, GDPR, FINMA). Revenue from perpetual monitoring contracts and one-time audit engagements.
3. Custom Development & AI Solutions: One-time and project-based revenue from custom web applications, generative AI integration, e-commerce platforms, ERP/CRM integrations, blockchain, and intelligent VoIP/IVR development.
4. IT Management & Staffing: Recurring managed IT outsourcing contracts with guaranteed SLAs, L1/L2/L3 support, on-call services, and permanent IT staffing engagements.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

OpenBusiness SA provides integrated IT outsourcing services to Swiss and international businesses, including Tier III datacenter hosting (via its SwissCenter sub-brand), managed cybersecurity and SOC 24/7 monitoring, custom web and AI application development, and full IT infrastructure management with tiered L1/L2/L3 support. Services are delivered from Swiss Tier III datacenters with bank-grade security, multi-site redundancy, and compliance with PCI DSS, GDPR, ISO, and FINMA standards.

Product overview

OpenBusiness is a Swiss IT solutions provider offering an integrated portfolio of four interconnected service categories: (1) Infrastructure & Hosting via SwissCenter platform providing shared hosting, dedicated servers, colocation, and private/hybrid cloud with Tier III/99.99% uptime; (2) Cybersecurity & Compliance with perimeter protection, 24/7 SOC monitoring, audits, and endpoint protection supporting PCI DSS, GDPR, FINMA, and ISO standards; (3) Development & AI delivering custom web applications, generative AI integration with foundation models (GPT, Claude), autonomous AI agents, e-commerce solutions, and system integrations; (4) IT Management & Support encompassing systems administration, monitoring, DevOps/CI/CD, and tiered support. The company operates SwissCenter as its primary hosting sub-brand, serving 5000+ clients since 1991 from its Lausanne headquarters.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SwissCenter: A sub-brand providing web hosting, shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, housing/colocation, and private cloud services. References made to 'Discover SwissCenter' links throughout the website.

Products and services

• SwissCenter OpenBusiness's proprietary Swiss-hosted cloud and datacenter platform providing shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, housing/colocation, and private cloud services with Tier III certification and 99.99% uptime guarantee.
• Infrastructure & Hosting Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.99% uptime guaranteed via Tier III infrastructure
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature6 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• IONOS: European hosting and cloud provider serving SMBs and mid-market with shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, and managed cloud — overlaps with the hosting and IT management portion of OpenBusiness's portfolio.
• OVHcloud: European cloud and bare-metal infrastructure provider with global datacenters, offering hosting, private cloud, and managed services — competes with OpenBusiness in regulated European hosting where sovereign/European data residency is a key sales argument.
• Bechtle AG: European-headquartered IT systems integrator and managed services provider operating across DACH with cloud, infrastructure, security, and IT management offerings — comparable IT outsourcing portfolio and DACH-region customer overlap with OpenBusiness.
• DATAGROUP: European IT services and managed-service provider (German HQ) operating datacenters and delivering IT outsourcing, cloud, and security services — comparable managed-IT portfolio and DACH-region focus.
• Swisscom Enterprise: Incumbent Swiss telecommunications operator with an enterprise IT services arm offering cloud, managed hosting, security, and outsourcing at much greater scale — the dominant Swiss incumbent against which OpenBusiness competes for regulated and mid-market workloads.
• T-Systems: Deutsche Telekom subsidiary delivering enterprise IT outsourcing, managed cloud, security, and SAP services across Europe with comparable scale and DACH-region customers — a broad incumbent competitor for managed IT outsourcing deals.

Direct peers

• Infomaniak: Swiss cloud and hosting provider headquartered in Geneva, operating datacenters in Switzerland with a comparable portfolio of shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, private cloud, and managed services — directly overlapping OpenBusiness's SwissCenter offering and Swiss-only data residency positioning.
• Nine Internet Solutions: Swiss hosting and colocation provider operating datacenters in Zurich and Lupfig, focused on dedicated servers, cloud hosting, and managed services — closely comparable to OpenBusiness's SwissCenter infrastructure and enterprise Switzerland customer base.
• Hetzner: European hosting and infrastructure provider operating own datacenters, offering dedicated servers, VPS, and cloud services — directly comparable to OpenBusiness's datacenter-anchored hosting business, though operating at larger scale and broader geography.
• MTF: Swiss IT services provider delivering managed IT, cloud, ERP, and infrastructure outsourcing to Swiss mid-market and enterprise clients — a like-for-like Swiss MSP competitor with similar service breadth and customer profile.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/openbusiness.sa
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/openbusiness-sa

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OpenBusiness