Today, Webex by Cisco announced full data residency for new customers in the European Union (EU). This is another exciting step forward in realizing our position and strategy of offering customers additional control over their data.
In the EU, except in limited circumstances as listed below, Webex data centers are equipped to keep data local, preventing personal data from being sent to other regions of the world and protecting valuable information.
Webex provides the most extensive data residency in the EU
Webex is built on industry-leading security and privacy controls, and now is the first major collaboration provider that enables EU customers, across both the public and private sectors, to process and store user-generated content and personal data for Calling, Meetings and Messaging services in the EU.
Here are some of the key milestones on our journey towards advancement of data residency:
- As of February 2020, Webex began storing user-generated content and user profiles in the EU.
- In July of 2021, as a result of Brexit, Webex created a new data center in Frankfurt, Germany, and moved EU customer content from the U.K. data center to the new data center.
- As of July 2022, all billing, analytics, and other relevant personal data is stored in the EU for new customers.
Now, EU customer information, except in limited circumstances as listed below, is not transferred to the United States, or any other region, and organization administrators can see where their organization’s data is stored in their Control Hub. As an added benefit, privacy controls enable users to purge usage data on demand, and soon there will be options for usage and host data retention.
The Webex data centers in Germany and the Netherlands are operational and equipped to support data protection and privacy of our customers’ data. With support for redundancy, resiliency and availability, these data centers also meet requirements for data residency within the EU. This means that EU customers can store and manage their Meetings content locally, including their meeting recordings, shared files, and chats.
However, Webex goes beyond just keeping user-generated content for Meetings local. Customers’ personal data, including billing information and analytics data, is processed in the EU. Any exceptions to EU data residency for our Webex Meetings customers are explained in the Webex Meetings Privacy Data Sheet and listed below.
Webex is proactive in meeting new regulations and certifications
Cisco is one of the earliest adherents to the EU Code of Conduct for Cloud Providers for Webex, the first official EU code of conduct under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Webex meets requirements for regional certifications such as German C5 and Spanish ENS. As countries establish new cross-border policies for data transfers, Webex will continue to monitor and develop solutions for our customers.
Webex data residency gives you visibility of your data
Webex implemented data residency in the EU to give customers more control and transparency. Additionally, we aim to provide the fastest processing and data response times for Webex Meetings and Calling, which may be achieved when data does not have to cross continents to be processed.
Bernhard Albler is a Cisco partner and owner of Frink Advanced Services in Vienna, Austria, who says the framework Webex has built will benefit EU customers in big ways:
“Webex has invested heavily in data residency infrastructure and engineering and is leading the way in EU data privacy. Their data residency capabilities are a game-changer for customers who require it, like public sector and healthcare. As a technology partner, we are extremely happy to see them fully embrace privacy by design in their backend and take European privacy and data security requirements so seriously.”
Cisco’s commitment
For Cisco, privacy is more than a compliance obligation – it is a business imperative. We have established long-standing security, data protection, and privacy programs for all products and services. We monitor local legislation for handling personal data to determine if compliance is needed. As connectivity and technology become even more foundational to people’s economic, social, and cultural lives, Cisco’s commitment to privacy is stronger than ever and we will keep advancing our security and privacy measures in this constantly evolving world.
Contact Webex for more information
If you are not a Webex customer, contact your local sales office to get the Webex cloud communications technology that meets your data residency needs. For more information see our security web page Webex Security and Strong Encryption – Cisco.
Exceptions to personal data stored in EU data centers:
To facilitate certain operations and aspects of Webex, certain exceptions to Webex data residency exist; specifically, cross-border transfers of personal data may still occur when:
- a user registers on any Cisco platform (for example, through www.webex.com or www.cisco.com) or through any Cisco service to learn more about Cisco products or events;
- a customer provides ordering information (business contact information);
- a user engages in collaboration with users outside of the EU region;
- a user requests technical support, including through Cisco TAC (in which case the information that a user provides within the initial TAC request may be transferred outside the region);
- a user enables certain functionality that is designated as optional;
- a user enables cell phone “push” notifications (in which case the cell phone provider associated with iOS or Android functionality may transfer data outside of the region).
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