Can a cloud offering truly be sovereign if it relies on public cloud platforms?This depends mainly on the definition of “sovereignty.” If we look at sovereignty strictly from the geographical location of stored data, then yes, public cloud platforms can offer sovereign solutions.
However, if we consider “sovereignty” as autonomy from foreign jurisdictions, a distinction should be made between native European sovereign cloud providers and providers whose headquarters or main operations are outside Europe. As long as the data in the sovereign cloud is accessible by entities belonging to cloud operators residing outside of Europe, the data sovereignty can no longer be guaranteed.So, the answer is not a simple “yes” or “no,” but a hybrid approach is necessary, an approach based on the customer requirements, laws and regulations, as well as type of data that is being processed.
What should organizations look for when choosing a sovereign cloud partner?We hear three central themes when we talk to our customers:
Compliance with laws and regulations for both the customer and the sovereign cloud partner while maintaining entire control of the data via a full jurisdiction control.
Ability to manage complex, end-to-end requirements and meet data center, connectivity and security needs that offers resilience and independence with cloud service providers.
Long-term strategy, financial stability and ability to execute over time. None of these should compromise on the quality, scalability or capacity for innovation of the product offered.
You’ve recently joined Broadcom’s Advantage Partner Program as a Pinnacle Tier Partner. Why does VMware appeal to you as a partner as you grow your cloud offering?
Continued success in growing our cloud offering is key to us at Telia. We need to decide what we think is the best technical platform to drive our future growth, which is based on several considerations.
We launched our sovereign cloud offer on the Swedish market last year, and we see the need for secure and trusted cloud infrastructure services growing in the years to come. Our customers instill their trust in Telia, including Telia Cygate, as their partner for the future. We instill the same trust in VMware by Broadcom as the partner platform to advance sovereign cloud adoption in our markets.
Our customers are looking for modern, scalable, secure, and sovereign cloud services for their data center needs. But soon they will also want a trustworthy platform that enables them to start using AI services in a sovereign context.
