198 At the end of last year, we predicted that technology and data sovereignty concerns would drive the growth of regional service providers. At that time, we noted that “Dependence on technology providers and cloud services based outside of their geographies is an increasing concern for global enterprises.” Data sovereignty regulations, such as the Data Governance Act in Europe, contain requirements that can be difficult to adhere to. Companies are struggling to keep track of the location of their data and meet compliance with local data residency regulations. We predicted this would usher in an industry of local and regional service providers offering cloud sovereignty services by ensuring the data stays within specified borders. Results of a new survey — conducted by global technology market research firm Vanson Bourne — reveal that data sovereignty is definitely top of mind for organizations in France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. And as these concerns take hold, we’re seeing more organizations move away from the public cloud toward hybrid approaches, including those involving regional service providers. Let’s dig into the findings. The vast majority of organizations are taking data sovereignty seriously Across all four countries, most organizations either have sovereignty regulations/policies in place for keeping their data in specific locations (e.g., local, in specific countries or regions) or have plans to do so. Nearly all companies (98%) in France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. have or will have a plan for storing sovereign data — 80% already have established strategies, and 18% plan to implement them in the future. Public cloud vs. hybrid cloud While the concept of cloud computing was being talked about as far back as the 1960s, it wasn’t until the 90s that it really started to emerge. And then 2006 marked the launch of AWS S3, now the most widely used cloud storage service. Later, around 2015-2016, we witnessed a stronger emergence of the hybrid-cloud model for data storage. Though hybrid cloud is still relatively new and hasn’t had as much time for adoption compared to public cloud, it’s clear many companies are moving toward a hybrid-cloud approach. According to the survey, the four countries were split into two camps: the U.S. and France are more likely to leverage a large public cloud service, while respondents in the United Kingdom and Germany lean toward a hybrid-cloud approach. In fact, France is most likely to opt for public cloud, at 52% compared to a worldwide average of 40%. Organizations are increasingly moving away from sole dependence on the public cloud. Across the four regions, larger organizations (with 3,000+ employees) are more likely (40%) to select a hybrid-cloud approach compared to 30% of respondents from smaller organizations (with 1,000–2,999 employees). Smaller organizations are more likely than larger ones to leverage the public cloud (42% vs. 38%) or a regional cloud service provider (16% vs. 12%). These findings support the idea that people are looking for solutions that protect them from a single source. We’re also seeing the growth of regional service providers, which could provide a more cost-effective solution. An unbreakable approach What we’ve seen is that while public cloud adoption has rapidly risen, it’s not a one-size-fits all solution. There’s a lot to like in terms of agility and scalability. It’s a good option for some applications and for short-term data storage, but it’s lacking in other areas. For one thing, it doesn’t provide users with enough control over infrastructure. The performance is often inadequate, and security can be an issue. This is where Scality’s unbreakable cloud storage for data centers comes in. It’s a solution that combines the benefits of public cloud with the performance, control and security advantages of on-premises private cloud infrastructure. Offering an impressive combination of safety, scale and speed, it grows exponentially according to your needs. It’s immutable, adaptable and easy to manage. These are the features that make it unbreakable. More power to data sovereignty As we suspected last year, data sovereignty concerns are indeed driving the growth of regional service providers. Organizations want to remain compliant with various data sovereignty regulations, which means they need to keep track of their data. Naturally, this has led to a greater appreciation for smaller regional service providers. But the good news is companies don’t have to give up the benefits of the public cloud to remain compliant. Unbreakable cloud storage for data centers offers those advantages in an on-prem deployment. Get more data and insights from the Vanson Bourne study here. Learn more about how Scality and HPE GreenLake are helping organizations avoid public cloud lock-in while keeping data sovereign here.
