Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced it will launch the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, a new,
independent cloud for Europe designed to help public sector customers
and those in highly regulated industries meet the most stringent
regulatory data residency and operational requirements. Located and
operated within Europe, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be
physically and logically separate from existing AWS Regions, with the
same security, availability, and performance of existing AWS Regions,
giving customers additional choice to meet their data residency,
operational autonomy, and resiliency needs. The AWS European Sovereign
Cloud will launch with its first AWS Region in Germany and will be
available to all European customers. To learn more, visit
aws.amazon.com/compliance/europe-digital-sovereignty/.
As with existing AWS Regions, 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. Only EU-resident AWS employees
who are located in the EU will have control of the operations and
support for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. For customers with
enhanced data residency needs, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will
allow customers to keep all metadata they create (such as the roles,
permissions, resource labels, and configurations they use to run AWS) in
the EU, and will feature its own billing and usage metering systems.
"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," said Max
Peterson, vice president of Sovereign Cloud at AWS. "For more than a
decade, we've worked with governments and regulatory bodies across
Europe to understand and meet evolving needs in cybersecurity, data
privacy and localization, and more recently, digital sovereignty. With
this new offering, customers and Partners across Europe will have more
choice to achieve the operational independence they require, without
compromising on the broadest and deepest cloud services that millions of
customers already know and use today."
"The development of a European AWS cloud will make it much easier for
many public sector organizations and companies with high data security
and data protection requirements to use AWS services," said Claudia
Plattner, president, German Federal Office for Information Security
(BSI). "We are aware of the innovative power of modern cloud services,
and we want to help make them securely available for Germany and Europe.
The C5 (Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria Catalogue), which was
developed by the BSI, has significantly shaped cybersecurity cloud
standards, and AWS was, in fact, the first cloud service provider to
receive the BSI's C5 testate. In this respect, we are very pleased to
constructively accompany the local development of an AWS cloud, which
will also contribute to European sovereignty, in terms of security."
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be sovereign-by-design and will be
built on more than a decade of AWS's experience operating multiple independent clouds
for the most critical and restricted workloads. Customers who need more
options to address stringent isolation and in-country data residency
needs will be able to leverage existing offerings like AWS Outposts or AWS Dedicated Local Zones
to deploy AWS European Sovereign Cloud infrastructure in locations they
select. AWS Outposts are fully managed solutions that deliver AWS
infrastructure and services to virtually any on-premises or edge
location for a consistent hybrid experience. They are designed
for workloads that need to remain on-premises due to latency, data
processing, and data residency requirements, where customers want those
workloads to run seamlessly with their other workloads in AWS. AWS
Dedicated Local Zones are a type of infrastructure built for exclusive
use by a customer or community and placed in a customer-specified
location. They are designed to reduce the operational overhead of
managing on-premises infrastructure at scale, and can be configured to
meet a customer's specific regulatory requirements.
AWS European Sovereign Cloud customers will benefit from the same low
latency and high availability they expect from existing AWS Regions, and
from access to the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud
to drive innovation. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will offer
multiple Availability Zones, infrastructure that is placed in separate
and distinct geographic locations, with enough distance to significantly
reduce the risk of a single event impacting customers' business
continuity, yet near enough to provide low latency for high availability
applications that use multiple Availability Zones. Each Availability
Zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security, and is
connected through redundant, ultra-low latency networks.
AWS offers the largest and most comprehensive cloud infrastructure
globally, with 102 Availability Zones across 32 geographic regions, and
has plans to launch 15 more Availability Zones and five more AWS Regions
in Canada, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand. AWS
infrastructure in Europe currently includes eight AWS Regions in
Frankfurt, Ireland, London, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, Spain, and Zurich
and more than 120 Content Distribution Network (CDN) points of presence
in more than 25 cities across 19 European Member States. Some of the
largest AWS development teams are located in Europe, with key centers in
Dublin, Dresden, and Berlin. Today, Amazon is creating thousands of
high-quality jobs and investing billions of euros in European economies.
Across the EU, Amazon has created more than 100,000 permanent jobs, and
many major components of AWS, including the AWS Nitro System and Amazon
CloudWatch, are built in the EU. AWS European Sovereign Cloud will
drive economic development through investing in infrastructure, jobs,
and skills in communities and countries across Europe. As part of a
continued commitment to contribute to the development of digital skills,
AWS will hire and develop additional local personnel to operate and
support the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Customers, AWS Partners, and regulators welcome AWS European Sovereign Cloud
Organizations across the European Union are among the millions of active
customers using AWS in more than 190 countries around the world. AWS
provides the most comprehensive compliance controls, supporting 143
security standards and compliance certifications, to help customers
satisfy regulatory requirements around the globe. To meet additional
data residency, operational autonomy, and resiliency needs in Europe,
AWS is collaborating closely with European regulators and national
cybersecurity agencies to build the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Many
regulators, customers, and AWS Partners across Europe welcome the new
AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
"We welcome the commitment of AWS to expand its infrastructure with an
independent European cloud. This will give businesses and public sector
organizations more choice in meeting digital sovereignty requirements,"
said Dr. Markus Richter, chief information officer of the German federal
government. "Cloud services are essential for the digitization of the
public administration. With the ‘German Administration Cloud Strategy'
and the ‘EVB-IT Cloud' contract standard, the foundations for cloud use
in the public administration have been established. I am very pleased to
work together with AWS to practically and collaboratively implement
sovereignty in line with our cloud strategy."
"The German and European economies are on course for digitization. The
strong German ‘Mittelstand' which are small and medium-sized
enterprises, in particular need a sovereign digital infrastructure that
meets the highest requirements in order to continue to be competitive in
the global market," said Stefan Schnorr, state secretary at the German
Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. "For our digital
independence, it is important that computing power is generated locally
in Germany and that further investments are made in the digitalization
of the local economy. We therefore welcome the announcement by AWS to
locate the European cloud in Germany."
"AWS's announcement of an independent European cloud will provide
organizations facing the most stringent regulations with more choice in
their digital sovereignty strategy," said Jarkko Levasma, Finland
Government chief information officer at the Ministry of Finance. "In
order to successfully provide human-centric and secure services to
citizens and businesses, public sector agencies need to have cloud
solutions that are compatible with data protection and other
legislation."
"Data sovereignty and residency are now at the forefront of European and
national security debates. Therefore, AWS's announcement of an
independent European cloud is indeed the right decision at the right
time that will ultimately also bolster transatlantic collaboration,"
said Tomas Krejci, deputy director of the National Cyber and Information
Security Agency (NÚKIB) in the Czech Republic. "We acknowledge that it
will provide more heavily regulated organizations, such as those in the
public sector with an eye on evolving regulation, more choice in their
digital sovereignty strategy. A totally independent cloud, which
delivers appropriate levels of cyber security together with the
assurance of meeting stringent data protection requirements, will always
benefit both public sector agencies and citizens at large."
"We welcome the announcement by AWS to further enhance its current
European infrastructure footprint with a new independent cloud. This
will help public and private organizations navigating stringent
regulatory requirements to accelerate their transition to the cloud
while improving innovation and data security for the benefit of European
citizens," said Dan Cimpean, director of the National Cyber Security
Directorate of Romania. "As Romania is championing the development of
cybersecurity skills and competencies and hosting the European
Cybersecurity Competence Center, we welcome this move by AWS also as a
long-term investment in cloud and security skills in Europe."
SAP SE is a market leader in enterprise application software. With a
global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders,
SAP helps the world run better and improve people's lives. SAP and AWS
continue to collaborate to accelerate digital transformation and support
their customers around the world. "As the market leader in enterprise
application software with strong roots in Europe, SAP has long
collaborated with AWS on behalf of customers to accelerate digital
transformation around the world," said Peter Pluim, president, SAP
Enterprise Cloud Services and SAP Sovereign Cloud Services. "The AWS
European Sovereign Cloud provides further opportunities to strengthen
our relationship in Europe by enabling us to expand the choices we offer
to customers as they move to the cloud. We appreciate the ongoing
collaboration with AWS, and the new possibilities this investment can
bring for our mutual customers across the region."
Dedalus is one of the largest health software companies in the world,
delivering healthcare software across the entire continuum of patient
care. It serves 6,700 healthcare organizations, 5,700 diagnostic and lab
centers, and hundreds of regions worldwide, helping caregivers look
after over 540 million patients. Since 2021, Dedalus has been using AWS
to provide healthcare software solutions, including native and platform
services for Dedalus' care records, as well as cloud-related deployment
capabilities. "Today, we stand at the cusp of a transformative era. The
introduction of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud does not merely
represent an infrastructural enhancement, it is a paradigm shift," said
Andrea Fiumicelli, chairman at Dedalus. "This sophisticated framework
will empower Dedalus to offer unparalleled services for storing patient
data securely and efficiently in the AWS cloud. We remain committed,
without compromise, to serving our European clientele with best-in-class
solutions underpinned by trust and technological excellence."
With locations in more than 20 countries and over 27,000 employees,
T-Systems is one of the leading providers of digital services in Europe.
The Deutsche Telekom subsidiary is headquartered in Germany and has a
presence in Europe, as well as in select core markets and strategic
production locations. T-Systems provides a global production and supply
chain to companies operating worldwide. T-Systems and AWS entered a
strategic collaboration in 2021 to support customers in their digital
journey. "Deutsche Telekom welcomes the announcement of the AWS European
Sovereign Cloud, which highlights AWS's dedication to continuous
innovation for European businesses," said Greg Hyttenrauch, senior vice
president, Global Cloud Services at T-Systems. "The AWS solution will
provide greater choice for organizations when moving regulated workloads
to the cloud and additional options to meet evolving digital governance
requirements in the EU."
O2 Telefónica is one of the leading integrated
telecommunications providers in Germany, with a customer base of over 44
million mobile and 2.3 million broadband subscriptions. Since 2020, O2
Telefónica has worked with AWS to speed up the progression of its
network, amplify automation, and drive innovation at an accelerated
rate. As part of its digital transformation process, the
telecommunications provider has migrated a majority of its IT
applications to AWS. "The new AWS European Sovereign Cloud can be a
game-changer for highly regulated business segments in the European
Union," said Mallik Rao, chief technology and information officer at O2 Telefónica in Germany. "As
a leading telecommunications provider in Germany, our digital
transformation focuses on innovation, scalability, agility, and
resilience to provide our customers with the best services and quality.
This will now be paired with the highest levels of data protection and
regulatory compliance that AWS delivers, and with a particular focus on
digital sovereignty requirements. I am convinced that this new
infrastructure offering has the potential to boost cloud adoption of
European companies and accelerate the digital transformation of
regulated industries across the EU."
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG is a leading manufacturer of industrial
offset printing machines. The German precision engineering company also
offers a wide range of solutions for the print media industry and an
ecosystem of digital solutions built on AWS. "We welcome AWS European
Sovereign Cloud as a new offering within AWS to address the most complex
regulatory data residency and operational requirements needs across
Europe," said Bernhard Wagensommer, vice president of Prinect,
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.
Founded in 2012, Raisin is a fast-growing financial technology company
that cooperates with more than 400 banks from over 30 countries,
connecting partners with savers through its platform. Raisin has
collaborated with AWS on mission-critical workloads, including the
company's business applications, web/customer facing application,
disaster recovery, and many more. "AWS European Sovereign Cloud will set
new industry benchmarks and ensure financial services institutions have
even more options within AWS to meet the growing digital sovereignty
requirements on data residency and operational autonomy in the EU," said
Gerhard Koestler, chief information officer at Raisin.
With over 600,000 clients and managed assets of more than 15 billion
euros, Scalable Capital is one of the leading digital asset managers in
Europe. With Scalable Broker, clients can trade in stocks, ETFs, funds,
bonds, and derivatives themselves, starting from 1 EUR. The fintech
operates the majority of their workloads on AWS. "With a keen focus on
data protection, security, and regulatory compliance, the AWS European
Sovereign Cloud underscores AWS's dedication to fostering the highest
standards of digital sovereignty for financial services institutions,"
said Andreas Schranzhofer, chief technology officer at Scalable Capital.
"This additional robust framework empowers businesses like ours to
thrive in a secure environment, where data is protected and being
compliant with highest standards becomes more achievable than ever."
De Volksbank is the organization behind SNS, ASN Bank, RegioBank and BLG
Wonen and the driving force in the background that develops banking
products, processes and systems based on human needs. As a bank with
over 3 million customers, de Volksbank wants to stand out by making a
social impact on lives across the Netherlands. "At de Volksbank, we
believe in investing in a better Netherlands. To do this effectively, we
need to have access to the latest technologies in order for us to
continually be innovating and improving services for our customers,"
said Sebastiaan Kalshoven, director IT/CTO, de Volksbank. "For this
reason, we welcome the announcement of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud,
which will allow European customers to easily demonstrate compliance
with evolving regulations while still benefitting from the scale,
security, and full suite of AWS services."
Telia Company is a Nordic and Baltic telecommunications leader and
Nordic media house, serving consumers, businesses, and public sector
customers with essential digital infrastructure and services, ICT
services and entertainment. Telia uses AWS DeepRacer as part of its
program to educate 2,000 staff on artificial intelligence and machine
learning with AWS. "Telia Company welcomes the development of the AWS
European Sovereign Cloud as a complement to Telia's trusted cloud
offerings," said Rainer Deutschmann, group chief operating officer at
Telia Company. "This step highlights the AWS commitment to the
democratization of cloud technology for companies and organizations
across Europe. Telia is delighted to see AWS's dedication to providing
highly regulated business segments with more flexibility and choice in
an environment of changing digital sovereignty requirements."
Accenture, an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner, is a leading global
professional services company with resources focused on accelerating
end-to-end adoption of AWS and maximizing enterprise-wide
transformation, securely, at speed and scale. Accenture's AWS worldwide
team of more than 20,000 certified professionals hold over 24,000 AWS
certifications and more than 30 AWS competencies. "According to recent
Accenture research, 50% of CXOs see digital sovereignty as a top issue
when selecting cloud vendors. Today's announcement can help to
accelerate economic growth and innovation in Europe, providing those in
highly regulated industries with the data and operational independence
commitment they need to move their most sensitive workloads to the
cloud," said Valerio Romano, cloud first lead EMEA, Accenture. "Building
on our digital sovereignty collaboration with AWS, Accenture will work
with our regulated industry and public sector clients to help them
access the cost efficiencies, security, and resilience of the cloud."
AlmavivA is an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner offering proven
experience, unique skills, ongoing research and in-depth knowledge of a
range of public and private market sectors, making it the leading
Italian group in Information and Communications Technology. "AlmavivA is
Italy's leading Information and Communications group with offices and
customers across the globe. As an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner, we
welcome the announcement of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, a
complement to AWS's existing offerings that will give European
businesses and administrations more choice and flexibility in their
workloads. This step reaffirms AWS's commitment to opening new
opportunities for EU businesses and aligns with AlmavivA's aim to
support Italian and European organizations to leverage the vast benefits
of digital transformation."
"Digitalization of the public sector is one of the biggest challenges
for governments in Europe, and together with AWS, Deloitte has already
successfully implemented digitalization projects in the public sector in
numerous countries," said Patrick Callewaert, partner and EMEA AWS
Alliance lead, Deloitte North South Europe. "Deloitte is now able to
offer our clients in Europe additional opportunities through the new AWS
European Sovereign Cloud to accelerate their digital transformation for
the public sector and regulated industries. As an AWS Premier Tier
Services Partner, Deloitte highly welcomes this move as it will support
the cloud journey of our clients across Europe."
Eviden, an Atos business, is an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner in
data-driven, trusted, and sustainable digital transformation. "Eviden
welcomes the launch of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. This will help
regulated industries and the public sector address the requirements of
their sensitive workloads with a fully featured AWS cloud wholly
operated in Europe," said Yannick Tricaud, head of Southern Europe,
Middle East and Africa at Eviden, Atos Group. "As an AWS Premier Tier
Services Partner and leader in cybersecurity services in Europe, Eviden
has an extensive track record in helping AWS customers formalize and
mitigate their sovereignty risks. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will
allow Eviden to address a wider range of customers' sovereignty needs."
The Materna Group is an international IT service provider from Germany,
that successfully uses AWS to implement digital transformation
solutions. Materna is an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner with a focus
on AWS competencies for IoT, mobile devices, migration, DevOps, and big
data, and offers agile application development in these fields. "AWS
European Sovereign Cloud is an important, additional offering from AWS
that provides highly regulated industries, public sector organizations,
and government authorities in Germany with further options to be able to
implement the most stringent regulatory requirements for data
protection in the cloud," said Martin Wibbe, CEO at Materna. "As an AWS
Advanced Tier Services Partner, AWS Solution Provider, and AWS Public
Sector Partner, we advise and support critical infrastructures in their
successful implementation. The new offering from AWS is an important
impulse for innovation and digitization in Germany."
msg group is a German IT and consulting company. As an AWS Advanced Tier
Services Partner, msg advises customers to design, plan, develop,
migrate, and manage workloads and applications on AWS. "Being one of the
largest German IT companies and a strategic AWS Advanced Tier Services
Partner, msg expressly welcomes the announcement of the AWS European
Sovereign Cloud," said Dr. Jürgen Zehetmaier, CEO at msg. "Because we
serve as both a SaaS provider and consulting advisor for customers with
specific data protection requirements, the creation of an independent
European cloud will enable us to help our customers more easily
demonstrate compliance with evolving regulations. This exciting news
aligns with our cloud strategy, and we consider this development as an
opportunity to strengthen our collaboration with AWS and accelerate the
evolution of the cloud in Germany."