Sovereign Cloud market surges

With the new government in the European Union seeing sovereign cloud as a strategic move to keep innovation local – relying on European cloud service providers to boost its economy and keep the region competitive in the global tech race – the need for collaboration is highlighted as being greater than ever before.

The report examines the debate around the complexities of defining sovereign cloud, revealing how varying interpretations have led to diverse market offerings. The report also investigates how governments can access or restrict access to customer data, unpacking when external bodies might access or share data without the data owner’s knowledge.

Yet, regardless of definition, the research reveals that the demand for sovereign cloud solutions continues to grow. This is because organisations across Europe are increasingly looking for reasons to protect their data from foreign government access, particularly those that process data deemed sensitive from a geo-political or national security perspective – such as state intelligence agencies or the defence sector.

Based on research and qualitative interviews, the report highlights how European cloud providers now see sovereignty as an opportunity to differentiate their services and promote their sovereign cloud credentials, advocating for greater transparency on how customer data is being stored and accessed.

Johan David Michels, Researcher, Cloud Legal Project, Queen Mary University of London, believes that urgent work needs to be done to define sovereignty for organisations, "The cloud industry faces a critical challenge: both US and European providers claim sovereignty, but legal uncertainty persists, especially in highly regulated sectors. To move forward confidently, organisations need complete confidence in how their cloud data is protected and accessed. It’s time for the industry and regulatory bodies to come together to establish clear standards for both cloud providers and customers, ensuring data sovereignty while supporting innovation."

“The push for sovereign cloud provides the perfect storm for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) in Europe to thrive”, says Martin Hosken, Field CTO, Cloud Partners at Broadcom. “They need to position themselves as trusted partners to those organisations on their sovereign cloud journey – helping them navigate the challenges of this move. This involves helping them assess and classify their data based on sensitivity and compliance needs, particularly for personal data under GDPR. CSPs can also help customers navigate through the complex mix of cloud services, enable a single operating model and maximize interoperability between providers to avoid isolated workloads.”