Sovereign Cloud helps unlock the power of critical data – VMware News & Stories

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) is the second largest electronic stock exchange in the world. When NSE set out to modernize its IT infrastructure by moving to the cloud, it quickly realized the many benefits of multi-cloud – agility, scalability and robustness. It was also able to ensure security through micro-segmentation in a multi-cloud environment.

Deploying to a multi-cloud infrastructure enabled NSE software developers to quickly create cloud-based apps and deliver innovative customer experiences. It helped NSE future-proof its operations and stay competitive in an ever-changing economic landscape.

Businesses around the world – and across our region – are increasingly benefiting from the many benefits of a multi-cloud infrastructure, which include increased performance and savings.

The VMware FY22 H2 Benchmark Study on Digital Momentum found that 73% of enterprises already use two public clouds and 26% use three or more. By 2024, 81% of companies expect to be multi-cloud.

However, the rise of multi-cloud presents some new challenges for businesses – especially those affected by increasing regulation of jurisdictional control of data.

Growing concerns about data sovereignty

Regulations on privacy and residence, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, are also being implemented in several other countries. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 80% of countries worldwide have adopted or drafted privacy legislation, and analyst firm IDC estimates that half of all European organizations will spend 10% of their IT budgets on privacy compliance. rules adopted in the EU.

In our region, Brunei, China and Indonesia all have strict requirements that data must be stored on servers in the country itself. And India and Malaysia have localization rules that apply to certain domain names and around consent requirements before personal data is transferred across borders. In Australia and New Zealand, data localization regulations apply to certain industries.

A global report by IDC found that 50% of surveyed organizations in regulated industries, including public sector, financial services and healthcare, faced a national mandate to leverage clouds that provide complete data sovereignty. In addition, 62% of respondents said they needed a cloud alternative that provided data sovereignty with complete jurisdictional control and authority over data.

Behind this need lies a very clear concern about data sovereignty across regulated industries. 58% of healthcare respondents were very concerned that data (and metadata) on a commercial public cloud may not remain on sovereign soil. In other industries, 43% of respondents in education, financial services and government had similar sovereignty concerns.

These concerns make the “super cloud” an important addition to an enterprise’s multi-cloud strategy.

Benefits for the company and the economy

Suveren cloud helps a business harness the power of the cloud while meeting regulatory requirements around data protection, security and sovereignty.

Some of the key benefits of a sovereign cloud are:

• Critical data, including metadata, is distributed on a sovereign cloud located in the country where it is collected.

• Data is subject only to the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction in which it is collected.

• Enhanced security controls help comply with specific security frameworks and compliance standards.

• Data is operated by certified personnel, usually citizens with security clearance.

• There is reduced reliance on non-sovereign vendors with the flexibility to use them for non-critical data storage and management.

• Critical data is used to drive innovation through advanced services such as AI and ML, while ensuring sovereignty.

• Improved ability to offer differentiated services that are secure and legal.

By integrating supreme cloud into its multi-cloud strategy, an organization can benefit from increased flexibility by avoiding vendor lock-in and future-proofing data operations.

Organizations should also approach sovereign clouds as a complement to their deployments on public or hyperscale clouds. This helps them take advantage of the breadth of services offered across clouds. For example, the data on a sovereign cloud can be transferred to a public cloud to utilize its advanced analytics services, while ensuring that adequate safeguards are in place to protect the analytics output.

A platform for innovation

Although sovereign cloud is at its core about protecting critical national data, governments are increasingly recognizing its importance in enabling economic growth and innovation. With Europe rapidly evolving into a digital economy, policy makers are now looking to protect investments in data space, and sovereign cloud can ensure that data is stored and managed in accordance with local security and privacy regulations.

With the rapid digitization of economies in the Asia Pacific region, national law–manufacturers are likely to increasingly see sovereign cloud as an important investment in unlocking local economic potential.

A disaster recovery solution

When managing state-of-the-art data, reliable disaster recovery is essential. With users now expecting 24/7 availability of digital services, network reliability and resilience is more critical than ever. When a server goes down due to a natural disaster, equipment failure, unplanned downtime, or a cyber attack, organizations must restore lost data from a secondary location where it is backed up.

With Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) on supreme cloud, organizations can have peace of mind that all their critical data is backed up on supreme infrastructure without compromising data integrity. With fail-over to services in a superb cloud environment, optimal business continuity is ensured. And with the growing need for sovereign cloud due to data security and digital sovereignty regulations like GDPR, this trend will continue to gain momentum.

Local suppliers take care of local needs

In nascent cloud adoption markets with limited access to hyperscalers, such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, local sovereign cloud providers can help meet enterprise data sovereignty and regulatory compliance requirements. A secondary benefit of adopting local cloud providers is the contribution to sustainable growth in local communities and a nation’s economy.

Thousands of partners under the VMware Cloud Provider Program (VCPP) already offer a wide range of cloud services on a geographic basis. The VMware Sovereign Cloud Initiative, unveiled at VMworld 2021, expands the VCPP offering. Under this initiative, enterprises connect with VMware Sovereign Cloud designated partners to protect their critical data and unlock its potential.

VMware Sovereign Cloud partners in our region are already leading the way in helping organizations achieve and maintain data sovereignty. AUCloud and Datacom help ensure data security and sovereignty for government and corporate customers across Australia and New Zealand. Telco services and VMware Cloud Provider, Macquarie Telecom Group is also now a VMware Sovereign Cloud Partner providing data hosting and sovereignty solutions to Australian organisations.

NxtGen’s Sovereign Cloud supports government agencies and companies in India to comply with the country’s demanding data sovereignty and data security requirements. Electronics giant Hitachi is now a VMware Sovereign Cloud Partner offering data residency and sovereignty solutions to organizations in Japan.

Dealing with complexity

While there are many distinct advantages to sovereign cloud, it can add to the complexity of managing an organization’s multi-cloud infrastructure.

Not all data is equal. Deploying the right data to the right cloud is critical to managing multi-cloud. With our demonstrated leadership in multi-cloud services, VMware is uniquely positioned to help organizations simplify the complexity as they navigate the data sovereignty journey.

Sovereign cloud can empower organizations to innovate while protecting critical data in a changing geopolitical landscape. That is why the future of multi-cloud for an organization must include sovereign cloud.