AWs has announced the availability of the AWS European Sovereign Clouda standalone cloud for Europe that the company has located entirely within the EU and separated both logically and physically from other AWS regions. In addition, the company has announced plans to expand the presence of this cloud from Germany to the entire EU, with the aim of supporting strict requirements for sensitive data.
This expansion will begin with new AWS Sovereign Local Zones, located in Portugal, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The AWS cloud is designed to meet the needs of companies and entities that have to meet the strictest requirements in data security and privacy. This cloud is also designed to offer customers additional options to meet EU sovereignty requirements without compromising AWS capabilities.
Both the AWS European Sovereign Cloud and the expansion of AWS Sovereign Local Zones to three countries will offer organizations more options to deploy cloud workloads with the necessary level of sovereignty and operational independence, while maintaining the AWS portfolio of services.
AWS Local Zones are a type of infrastructure that allows customers to store their data in a specific geographic location to meet data residency requirements or run latency-sensitive applications. The zones announced today will be part of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, extending sovereignty controls from the AWS Region in Germany to the entire EU.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud combines comprehensive and layered controls to provide a solution for customers who need to comply with strict digital sovereignty requirements. It is separate from other AWS regions and operated exclusively by EU residents. It has no critical infrastructure dependencies outside the EU, and its design allows it to continue operations indefinitely, even in the event of a disruption of communications with the rest of the world.
To support continuity even in extreme circumstances, AWS employees authorized to operate on the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will have independent access to a replica of the source code necessary to maintain the AWS European Sovereign Cloud services.
This gives customers full control over where their data is stored, and allows them to maintain all the metadata they create, such as roles, permissions or configurations; completely in the EU. Including sovereign Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems, billing and usage metering.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud incorporates the AWS Nitro system, which provides a physical and logical security boundary to enforce access restrictions so that no one can access customer data running on Amazon EC2. Initially it will have more than 90 services from different categories, including AI, computing, containers, databases, networks, security and storage.
The company also offers advanced encryption, key management services and hardware security modules, which customers can use to enhance the protection of their content. Additionally, it has included the AWS European Sovereign Cloud Sovereignty Framework, an independently validated framework to meet customers’ sovereignty requirements. On the other hand, it has established a dedicated governance structure in Europe, with a new parent company and three local subsidiaries incorporated in Germany run by EU citizens.
Furthermore, it includes an advisory board, which will offer expertise and responsibility on sovereignty issues, made up of three Amazon employees and two independent board members, all European citizens and residents.
Stèphane Israël, Managing Director, AWS European Sovereign Cloudhas highlighted that «Europe needs access to the most robust cloud and artificial intelligence technology. AWS Innovation Expansion in Europe Will Help Drive Customer Growth and AI Ambitions. Customers want the best of both worlds: being able to use AWS’s full portfolio of cloud and AI services while ensuring they can meet their strict sovereignty requirements. By building a cloud that is European in its infrastructure, operations and governance, we are empowering organizations to innovate with confidence while maintaining complete control over their digital assets.”
