Amazon Web Services is launching a separate, independent cloud for Europe

Amazon is working on a separate, ‘sovereign’ cloud for the European Union. Customer data is only stored on servers within the EU, and only EU AWS employees can manage the cloud.

In addition to the fact that all metadata in the AWS European Sovereign Cloud does not leave the EU and that this service is only managed and maintained by European AWS employees, it must also have a separate system for billing and tracking user data, states Amazon. This separate cloud should first be released for customers in Germany, and later for all European users. This also includes non-EU countries such as the United Kingdom, Amazon explains to TechCrunch. However, it is not mentioned when the cloud will become available.

Amazon is introducing its cloud solution in response to the European Union’s GDPR rules. Personal data may be processed outside Europe, but only under certain conditions. For example, companies may only export data if they can guarantee that it is as well protected abroad as in Europe. Amazon claims that it already complies with those regulations with its AWS service, but that this separate cloud ‘should make it much easier for public sector organizations and companies with high data security and protection requirements to use AWS services’.

Amazon is not the only company that lets cloud users choose to only have their data stored in the EU. For example, Microsoft started the similar EU Data Boundary at the beginning of this year. Also Oracle and Google are already setting up such ‘sovereign’ clouds in Europe.