Amazon Web Services To Roll Out European Sovereign Cloud

Amazon Web Services has revealed its plan to launch a sovereign cloud in Europe. The new inclusion targets to service the government and users in highly regulated industries.

On Wednesday, October 25, Amazon announced the launch of the latest sovereign cloud move from the company. According to the cloud-computing division of Amazon, the sovereign cloud is expected to store data on servers located in the European Union. 

AWS European Sovereign Cloud To Maintain Independent Operations

The AWS European Sovereign Cloud is located and operated within Europe. Though it will have the same security, availability, and performance as those from existing AWS Regions, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be physically and logically independent.

Also, the new service will provide European customers with additional options for meeting their data residency, resiliency needs, and operational autonomy. The service setting allows only EU-resident AWS employees within the 27-nation bloc to control the operations and provide any needed support.

Further, AWS assured the public of the safety and privacy of customers’ data on the sovereign cloud. Amazon stated:

Customers will have the control and assurance that AWS will not access or use customer data for any purpose without their agreement, as well as access to the strongest sovereignty controls among leading cloud providers.

The company disclosed that the AWS European Sovereign Cloud has a suitable consideration for customers with advanced residency needs. The service allows such users to retain all metadata they create in the EU, such as the roles, resource labels, permissions, and configuration they use to run AWS.

Also, the service is expected to lay out its own billing and usage metering systems. AWS European Sovereign Cloud plans to first launch in Germany before expanding its services to all European customers.

AWS European Sovereign Cloud – A Solution To Data Storage And Transfer In Europe?

Before now, the European Union has maintained a stricter approach to privacy and security legislation. Last year, the union’s privacy regulator started investigating the public sector’s use of cloud-based services.

This move was part of its check to ensure compliance with stated privacy safeguards.

With the need for technological backups and enhancement, most government agencies and businesses transfer their operations to public cloud operators such as Amazon and Microsoft. 

However, the EU is concerned over the storage of data on non-European companies’ servers.

Also, some cloud features could demand the transfer of data from and to the EU. Consequently, lawmakers and some businesses are worried about unauthorized access to private data and information through such data storage and transfers by firms outside the EU.

Additionally, the EU is worried about the dependence on foreign companies, especially US-based firms, for cloud computing. This led to the emergence of AWS European Sovereign Cloud, which could try to eliminate such concerns and issues.

Reacting to the launch of the service, vice president of Sovereign Cloud at AWS, Max Peterson, highlighted Amazon’s commitment to security. 

He stated:

“The AWS European Sovereign Cloud reinforces our commitment to offering AWS customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls, privacy safeguards, and security features available in the cloud.”