Ecosystem layer — Cluster
When data sovereignty is non-negotiable, run your own world — on the same knowledge infrastructure.
For most organizations, the shared public ecosystem is exactly right. But when data residency, jurisdiction, or full separation is a hard requirement, you can stand up a private world of your own — on the identical architecture that powers the public expertshare knowledge platform. That world is a Cluster: the top of the model, holding Industries, which hold Containers, which hold Identities. Same physics, separate orbit.
The full model: Cluster → Industry → Container → Identity.
Why this exists
Most software rents you a tenant slot. expertshare hands you a world.
A Cluster is a complete, self-contained world. It defines its own user base, its own data residency, its own governance, and its own brand. Inside it, Industries provide orientation and Containers provide the spaces organizations actually operate. expertshare is itself a Cluster — the main public one, the live knowledge infrastructure thousands of professionals already move through — not just a piece of software you log into.
Two Clusters can be architecturally identical and still belong to entirely different worlds. The public Cluster is where most of the ecosystem lives, including doclift, the healthcare Industry vertical built on expertshare — so hospitals, universities, and medical societies share one connected knowledge platform instead of a dozen disconnected portals.
For the overwhelming majority of organizations, the public Cluster is the right answer — its gravity is the whole point. It is only when data sovereignty or full separation becomes a hard, non-negotiable requirement that a Cluster of your own starts to make sense.
A private Cluster is its own planet: same physics, separate orbit, governed entirely by you.
How it works
How the Cluster sits above everything else.
One world, three layers beneath it. The same architecture whether the Cluster is public or private.
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The Cluster holds Industries
A Cluster defines the world: its user base, data residency, governance, and brand. Industries live inside it as domains of practice that orient people without restricting them.
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Industries hold Containers
Each Industry contains the independent spaces organizations own and operate. A hospital, a university, and a society can all run Containers inside the same healthcare Industry.
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Containers hold Identities
People move through Containers carrying one continuous profile. Nothing about a Cluster changes that — a private Cluster simply scopes which world that movement happens in.
Proof, not promise
High assurance does not require a world of its own.
Before you reach for a private Cluster, look at what already runs in public. Demanding security and governance bars are met on shared infrastructure inside the doclift ecosystem today — proof that a private Cluster is for separation, not merely for assurance.
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doclift
A full Industry on shared infrastructure
The healthcare vertical runs in production on the public Cluster, carrying real institutions at scale.
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RUAG
Enterprise-grade bars, met in public
A defence-and-technology enterprise operates inside the ecosystem without a separate world at all.
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Credit Suisse
Governance without separation
A major financial institution meets its security and governance bars on shared infrastructure.
Best for
Who actually runs a private Cluster.
If your situation is not on this list, you almost certainly do not need one. The public Cluster is the right answer for the vast majority of organizations and use cases.
Large healthcare networks with strict data-residency requirements that rule out shared infrastructure. National or regional governments standing up professional knowledge infrastructure for their own jurisdiction. Multi-national institutions with regulatory or compliance constraints that prohibit shared platforms. Data-sovereignty enterprises for whom shared infrastructure is simply off the table.
A private Cluster is the right call only when separation itself is the requirement, not merely high assurance. Everyone else gains far more from the gravity of the public Cluster — the discovery, the cross-Industry reach, the portable Identity, the network effect of a growing knowledge platform — than they ever would from running a world alone.
The two Cluster types
Public reach or private sovereignty — same architecture, your call.
Architecturally identical. Operationally distinct. One decision, made on purpose — and almost always the public one.
| What you control | Public Cluster (default) | Private Cluster |
|---|---|---|
| The world it is | The main public expertshare world, holding the live Industries — doclift today, more to come — and connecting every organization, expert, and individual across them. | The same architecture run as a world of its own: separate, self-contained, and governed entirely by the operator rather than the platform. |
| Data residency | Shared infrastructure that already clears demanding security and governance bars. | Your own data residency, with full control over where data lives and which jurisdiction governs it. |
| Identity provider | Identity portability is strongest here — one profile moves across every Industry in the ecosystem. | Identity infrastructure under your authentication root: your own SSO, SAML, OIDC, and SCIM. |
| Governance | Platform governance and content policies, designed for a connected public world. | Governance, retention, and content rules set entirely by you. |
| Branding | expertshare branding, within the shared ecosystem. | Optionally your own — the platform presented under the operator name rather than expertshare. |
| Discovery & connection | Discovery, cross-Industry connection, and Identity portability all work strongest at public scale. | Not connected to public discovery by default — the trade most operators make on purpose: separation in exchange for sovereignty. |
Questions
Cluster questions, answered.
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Is "Cluster" something I interact with day to day?
No. The Cluster is the architectural top layer. Day to day you work inside a Container, within an Industry. Most people never think about the Cluster — they simply experience the public expertshare ecosystem.
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Do I have to choose between public and private up front?
Almost everyone starts and stays in the public Cluster. A private Cluster is a deliberate decision driven by data sovereignty or full-separation requirements, and it begins with a conversation about scale, requirements, and timeline.
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Does a private Cluster work differently from the public one?
Architecturally, no. Industries, Containers, and Identities behave exactly the same. The difference is operational: a private Cluster controls its own data residency, identity provider, governance, and branding, and it is not connected to public discovery by default.
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Can a private Cluster be branded as our own?
Optionally, yes. The platform can be presented under your operator name rather than expertshare branding, so members experience your world, not ours. Branding scope and timeline depend on the engagement - we will give you a concrete plan on your first call.
Where this connects.
The Cluster is the top of the four-level model. Here is the rest of it.
Industries
The orientation layer that lives inside a Cluster. How domains like healthcare organize the world without closing it.
IndustriesContainers
The independent spaces organizations own and operate inside an Industry. Ownership, not tenancy.
ContainersIdentity
The continuous profile that moves through every Container, Industry, and Cluster. Nothing resets.
IdentityFor Institutions
The governance, data-residency, and compliance case for a world of your own - the institutions that actually run a private Cluster.
For InstitutionsTalk to us about a private Cluster.
Private Clusters are not self-serve. The first call is a short scoping conversation about your scale, requirements, and timeline - no obligation, no slide deck. Your world, your brand, your data - you own it; expertshare is infrastructure, not an intermediary.