Europe builds sovereign recovery stack

Four European companies said on April 15 they had launched a disaster-recovery cloud stack built to keep critical systems running even if a foreign provider cuts service. (cubbit.io) Cubbit, SUSE, Elemento Cloud, and StorPool Storage unveiled the package at the European Data Summit of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in Berlin, and described it as Europe’s first “fully sovereign” disaster recovery pack. (tech.eu) Disaster recovery is the backup plan for computing: copy the data, preserve the applications, and be able to restart them somewhere else after an outage. The four companies said their stack covers storage, compute, orchestration, networking, identity, observability, and management in one deployable setup. (digitalsme.eu) The companies said the target is not everyday cloud bursting or cheap extra capacity. They said the package is meant for “critical workloads” that must stay available during catastrophic failures or a vendor “kill switch” scenario. (heise.de) The timing follows a wider European push to reduce dependence on United States and Chinese cloud providers. In March, Telefónica announced the European Union-backed EURO-3C project with more than 70 organisations to build a federated sovereign cloud and artificial intelligence network. (euronews.com) Cubbit said Gartner expects sovereign cloud infrastructure-as-a-service spending in Europe to rise from $6.9 billion in 2025 to $23.1 billion in 2027, a 3.3-fold increase. The companies are pitching this pack as a way to move some of that spending toward European-owned infrastructure. (cubbit.io) The stack also doubles as a migration path. Heise reported that the companies framed it as an easier way to prepare “exit scenarios” from other cloud systems, while Cubbit said it can serve as a first step toward data repatriation from foreign vendors. (heise.de, cubbit.io) The technical pieces come from companies based in Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Bulgaria, and Cubbit said the package is already deployed by an Italian information technology service provider. The European DIGITAL SME Alliance said more partners are expected to adopt it. (iteuropa.com, digitalsme.eu) Supporters are using the launch to press for policy changes as well as sales. The European DIGITAL SME Alliance said the European Union should define “sovereign cloud” in the coming Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Development Act and give European technologies preference in public procurement. (digitalsme.eu) For now, the offer is narrow by design: not a new hyperscale cloud, but a recovery layer for the systems an organisation cannot afford to lose. That makes the pitch less about elasticity and more about who controls the switch when something goes wrong. (tech.eu, heise.de)