Microsoft has announced today that it’s expanding its European Digital Commitment with Microsoft Sovereign Cloud (MSC). The MSC is a comprehensive set of sovereignty solutions that has now been expanded to include Data Guardian, where European personnel control access to European data, External Key Management, where customers control encryption keys, Regulated Environment Management, which provides simplified policy management, and Microsoft 365 Local for critical productivity services in private cloud environments.
Through MSC, Microsoft is meeting its obligations under European law. This solution aims to give customers in the EU greater choice, control over data privacy, and more digital resilience. It builds on the existing European Data Boundary, which stores customer data in the EU.
Deeper dive into Sovereign Public and Private Cloud options
Microsoft offers three different solutions as part of the wider Microsoft Sovereign Cloud: Sovereign Public Cloud, Sovereign Private Cloud, and National Partner Clouds. The Public and Private Cloud offerings are still in preview and will be generally available later this year.
The Sovereign Public Cloud is an evolution of Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty and is available across all European data centers for all European customers. When you use this, your data stays in Europe under European law, with operations and access controlled by European personnel. Any workloads already running in European data centers do not need to be migrated.
The Sovereign Private Cloud is designed for hybrid or air-gapped environments and allows the customer to have full control over the physical environment. It supports workloads on Azure Local and integrates Microsoft 365 Local and security platforms.
Finally, National Partner Clouds are designed for government and critical infrastructure. These clouds are hosted by government-approved local operators separate from Microsoft. Some examples include Bleu with Orange and Capgemini for SecNumCloud in France and Delos Cloud, an SAP subsidiary, for German government requirements.
Impact on European organizations and the broader cloud ecosystem
With the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud, the Redmond giant hopes that its solutions will enable organizations in the European Union to grow, compete, and lead on their own terms with more control. To help organizations make the most of their new solutions, it has launched a preview of the new Microsoft Sovereign Cloud specialization in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.
The specialization will help European customers identify partners that have demonstrated capabilities in supporting their “Sovereign Cloud ambitions on Microsoft technology.” Microsoft said that its preview partners include Accenture, Arvato, Area, Atos, Crayon, Capgemini, Dell Technologies, IBM, Inspark, Infosys, Lenovo, Leonardo, NTT Data, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone.
The solutions announced by Microsoft will help businesses in the European Union comply with the stringent data rules that the bloc has so far introduced. In an increasingly unstable world, Europe’s actions will mean that its data is more secure.
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