SAP splashes €20B on Euro sovereign cloud push

Summary

SAP says it will pump €20 billion into expanding sovereign cloud infrastructure in Europe over the next ten years, pitching itself as a secure and compliant alternative to American cloud giants. The Germany-based enterprise software biz is looking to provide sovereign infrastructure for the public sector and regulated environments, said Thomas Saueressig, board member for customer services and delivery. Microsoft admits it 'cannot guarantee' data sovereignty READ MORE "With our expanded SAP Sovereign Cloud offering, SAP is unlocking access to the full spectrum of cloud innovations and AI capabilities for all markets and industries while ensuring these advancements are delivered in a sovereign framework and on customers' own terms." Data sovereignty in Europe is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For example, in Ireland, Meta was fined €1.2 billion for inadequately safeguarding the transfer of European residents' data to the US. SAP is offering three options for businesses concerned about data sovereignty and compliance. First is SAP Cloud Infrastructure, an IaaS platform developed and operated with open source technologies within SAP's datacenter network. The vendor said all data is to be stored within the EU to maintain compliance with GDPR. Secondly, SAP is offering a Sovereign Cloud On-Site within a customer-owned or customer-selected datacenter. It is designed to offer high levels of data, operational, technical, and legal sovereignty. Lastly, SAP is offering Delos Cloud in Germany, which it says offers a secure and sovereign cloud flexible enough to meet country-specific sovereignty requirements. "The digital resilience of Europe depends on sovereignty that is secure, scalable and future-ready," said Martin Merz, president, SAP Sovereign Cloud. However, in June, SAP CEO Christian Klein warned against any efforts to compete with US cloud hyperscalers in Europe. He said SAP had struck deals with French AI company Mistral and business servi...