A server in Germany doesn't protect you if an American company operates it.
In 2023, US prosecutors accessed emails stored in Microsoft's Dublin data center. The data was on European soil. The operator was American. That distinction is what your regulator is now testing.
Meta's 2023 GDPR fine for transferring EU user data to the US
of non-US banks and insurers will move to sovereign cloud by 2028
of enterprises cite governance gaps as the main cause of compliance failures
top barriers to public cloud adoption are sovereignty-related
The regulatory clock
Most of this is not incoming. It's here.
GDPR meets US CLOUD Act
One protects European data. The other can override it.
DORA takes effect
ICT dependency registers, audit trails, full regulator access — mandatory for financial institutions.
NIS2 enforcement
Energy, transport, healthcare, digital infrastructure — same obligations as banks.
EU Data Act
Sovereignty extends to industrial and operational data, not just personal data.
EU AI Act high-risk obligations
Full Data Act scope. Three budget cycles away.
Penalties already running: up to 2% of global annual turnover under DORA · €10M or 2% of revenue under NIS2.
THE SOVEREIGNTY GAP
Your provider's EU region covers one of these five.
Hosting data in an EU region satisfies one requirement: where the server is. It does not determine which laws govern that data, or who can demand access to it. Most organisations have the first layer covered. The other four are where the gaps are.
Data residency
Where data physically sits.
Data localization
Enforceable policies preventing data from crossing specific borders.
Data sovereignty
Which country's laws govern the data, regardless of where it is hosted.
Operational sovereignty
Exclusively EU-based personnel for critical systems. No US escalation paths.
Technological sovereignty
You hold the encryption keys, not your provider.
SECTOR EXPERTISE
Built for regulated industries.
Banking & FSI
- DORA ICT third-party register — built, classified, ready for your regulator
- Sovereign architecture satisfying DORA operational requirements and GDPR Art. 46
- EU-based engineering teams with no US legal escalation paths
- Audit trail your regulator can examine on short notice
Pharma & Healthcare
- GxP-compliant infrastructure with full ALCOA+ traceability
- Patient and clinical data on EU-only infrastructure
- Private AI environments with EU-only processing
- Encryption key custody stays with your organisation
Industrial & Manufacturing
- NIS2 and KRITIS-aligned architecture for OT/IT environments
- Sovereignty mapping across operational and supply chain systems
- Sovereign cloud migration for critical process control
- Incident notification audit trail built to NIS2 spec
Public Sector
- BSI-compliant infrastructure, exclusively EU-based operations
- Documented governance chain ready for regulatory examination
- Encryption key custody external to your cloud provider
- Air-gap architecture for workloads that cannot leave your perimeter
OUR APPROACH
How we work.
AWS
Scan and map
We start with your current stack: cloud, AI tools, third-party ICT dependencies, data flows. We map which sovereignty layers have gaps and which carry regulatory risk now versus what's coming.
A sovereignty gap map and a prioritised list of what to fix, in what order.
Design and build
N-iX architects design the sovereign architecture for your environment — the right cloud model, encryption controls, governance framework, ICT dependency register. Then we build it.
Implemented sovereign architecture, compliant with the regulations that apply to you.
Document and verify
Every element is documented to the standard your regulator expects — audit trail, access controls, key custody chain, ICT register. We test it before your regulator sees it.
Documentation your team can defend under examination.
SOVEREIGN MODELS
Three ways to go sovereign.
Local provider
EU-native infrastructure, operated by EU-based personnel. No foreign jurisdiction exposure.
Hyperscaler partnership
AWS, Azure, or Google operate dedicated EU sovereign regions, separated from global infrastructure and staffed by EU-based employees.
Hybrid sovereign
Regulated workloads on sovereign infrastructure. Less sensitive applications on standard public cloud. Audited interfaces connect the two.
Which model fits your regulatory exposure? We work through that in your free 30-minute assessment.
Reply to get started
WHY N-IX
Engineering sovereignty for regulated enterprises across Europe.
"Companies under strict data localisation rules need to control their data and infrastructure without giving up cloud scale. N-iX designs and runs sovereign setups that help our clients move with speed and certainty."
Compliance standards supported in production
30 minutes. One N-iX cloud and sovereignty expert.
A structured call assessing your setup against DORA, NIS2, GDPR and the EU AI Act. Afterwards you receive a short written summary: where your gaps are, how serious they are, what to address first.
No preparation required.