- Microsoft Azure Local can now operate fully offline without the need for the cloud
- European clients increasingly demand sovereign options
- CISPE welcomes changes – seeks to test them
Microsoft announced three new updates to the company’s Sovereign offerings, including improvements to Azure Local, Microsoft 365 Local, and Foundry Local.
The additions come as trade tensions between the US and EU continue, with Europe pushing for more digitally sovereign options.
European customers are increasingly demanding local infrastructure, protection against potential US CLOUD Act data access, and reduced reliance on hyperscalers.
Microsoft offers three new sovereign options for countries like Europe
While Microsoft’s local additions don’t address the desire to move away from hyperscalers, they do address data and infrastructure sovereignty requirements while delivering experiences already familiar to existing customers.
In a blog post, Microsoft Specialized Clouds President and CTO Douglas Phillips explained that organizations can now use on-premises infrastructure with the governance and policy controls of Azure, all without cloud connectivity, in the form of the new Azure Local.
“Operations, management, policies, and execution of disconnected workloads remain in customer-managed environments,” he wrote.
Previously, Azure Local required periodic cloud connectivity. Staying offline for too long reduces functionality, but with the latest update it can now operate entirely offline, making it ideal for highly regulated industries including defense and critical national infrastructure.
CISPE, the European body representing cloud infrastructure companies, welcomed the changes, promising to test Microsoft’s changes against its upcoming sovereign cloud services framework to see if they are adopted.
Microsoft doesn’t even stand out in the world of hyperscalers, with Google offering its own Google Cloud Airgapped solution and AWS selling its equivalent, the European Sovereign Cloud.
“Our approach helps our customers meet stringent sovereign requirements in fully disconnected scenarios without compromising simplicity, while maintaining flexibility where connectivity is possible,” concluded Phillips.
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