Real sovereignty - not just marketing fluff

Sovereign Cloud, Sovereign AI and real control are going to matter more than inflated promises and flashy tech-chops. Because...

- By Pratima H

As we combed through some recent findings unfolded by a Civo paper on Cloud sovereignty in regions like UK, we asked Kunal Kushwaha, Field CTO, Civo about the technological, political, eyewash-y, practical, financial and rollback sides of the word 'Sovereignty'. Turns out data residency is not data sovereignty, and just promising a sovereign cloud has to be more than a marketing ribbon. Kushwaha argues with some data and problems felt in the enterprise trenches as he challenges us to look at this word from more than one prism- hinting why sovereignty cannot be just a new brochure or a bolted-on feature. Let's understand why.

How crucial is the idea of Cloud Sovereignty today? Your findings about UK region say a lot- do they echo in regions like India and Europe too?

Cloud sovereignty isn't just a buzzword anymore. It's a real concern for businesses across the world. Our research in the UK found that 84 percent of IT leaders are worried about geopolitical risks to their data. Even more interesting, 68 percent want full ownership of their data when it comes to AI.

And this isn't just a UK thing. In Europe, we're seeing a clear pushback against the dominance of big cloud providers through projects like EuroStack.

Over in India, the momentum is strong too. New data protection laws and the RBI's plan to launch its own sovereign cloud show how serious the country is about taking control of its data.

The RBI's announcement is a big deal. Their upcoming sovereign cloud, set for 2025, will offer affordable cloud services to financial institutions and make sure all data stays within the country. On top of that, India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act from 2023 has strict rules about where data can go." The draft rules released in early 2025 give the government a lot more power over cross-border data movement.