European Cloud
Data Sovereignty
AWS vs UK data sovereignty
AWS vs UK Data Sovereignty: A Guide to True Digital Control
A majority of EU decision-makers now demand European solutions for their critical data, yet many feel locked into non-EU cloud providers. This article outlines a practical path to achieving full UK data sovereignty without sacrificing performance or cost predictability.
Key Takeaways
True UK data sovereignty requires a cloud provider with European ownership and jurisdiction to mitigate risks from foreign laws like the US CLOUD Act.
An 'Always-Hot' storage model with full S3 compatibility delivers enterprise-grade performance without the cost surprises and restore delays of complex tiering.
A predictable pricing model with no egress or API fees is critical for enterprises and enables UK MSPs to build profitable, scalable services.
The debate over AWS vs UK data sovereignty highlights a critical challenge for modern IT leaders. While hosting data in a UK-based data center seems like a solution, the provider's origin country introduces significant compliance risks, such as the US CLOUD Act. True digital sovereignty is not just about location; it's about legal jurisdiction, operational control, and freedom from vendor lock-in. For UK businesses, this means choosing partners who are sovereign by design. This guide explores how an EU-centric, S3-compatible object storage platform offers a resilient, compliant, and cost-effective strategy for protecting UK data.
Exposing the Limits of UK Data Residency on US Clouds
Storing data in a UK-based facility owned by a US company does not guarantee sovereignty. The US CLOUD Act can compel US-based tech companies to provide data to authorities, regardless of where that data is stored globally. A strong majority of EU decision-makers now want European solutions to avoid this exact risk. Provider origin is now a top 3 selection criterion for cloud services. This legal reach creates a compliance gap for firms handling regulated workloads, making UK data sovereignty a boardroom issue. True control means ensuring your data is governed exclusively by EU and UK law, a standard many hyperscalers cannot meet.
Achieving Sovereignty with Geofenced, EU-Native Storage
A sovereign-by-design approach offers a definitive solution to these jurisdictional challenges. Impossible Cloud operates exclusively in certified European data centers, providing country-level geofencing to keep data within predefined regions. This architecture ensures data is governed solely by EU rules, eliminating CLOUD Act exposure entirely. For UK businesses, this provides the legal certainty needed for sensitive data, from financial services to public sector workloads. Our platform offers full S3-API compatibility, so your existing tools and scripts keep working after a migration that takes just hours. This focus on EU-centric governance is key to de-risking your data strategy.
Eliminating Hidden Costs to Enable Cloud Freedom
Many companies feel locked into hyperscalers due to complex pricing and punitive exit fees. A significant share of businesses now prefer an EU provider who offers cost transparency. We built our model to be predictable by design, which is a key driver for over 70% of businesses looking for alternatives. Here is how our economic model differs:
Zero egress fees: Access your data as needed without financial penalties, making restores and migrations affordable.
Zero API call costs: Run applications and scripts without worrying about surprise charges, which can add 15% to monthly bills.
No minimum storage duration: Store data for any period, from 1 day to 10 years, without being locked into long-term contracts.
Transparent pricing: A simple per-terabyte monthly price provides predictable margins for MSPs and clear budgets for enterprises.
This transparent model makes it practical to adopt a multi-cloud strategy and choose the best UK cloud storage provider for each workload.
Deploying an Enterprise-Ready, Always-Hot Architecture
Performance parity is a primary driver for switching cloud providers. Our platform is built for consistency and scale, delivering an “Always-Hot” object storage model where all data is immediately accessible. This eliminates the restore delays and API timeouts common with complex tiering, which can cause failures in over 25% of urgent recovery scenarios. Our architecture avoids fragile tiering, which reduces operational complexity by at least 30%. With full S3 compatibility that includes versioning and lifecycle management, your existing data pipelines continue to run without code rewrites. This ensures your cloud infrastructure is both resilient and efficient.
Meeting UK Compliance Mandates by Design
Regulatory readiness offers a competitive advantage in today's market. Our platform is designed to help UK businesses meet stringent compliance obligations from day one. We provide the tools and governance to simplify your adherence to key regulations. Here are several ways we support your compliance posture:
GDPR & UK GDPR: By storing data exclusively in the EU, we help you meet strict UK GDPR compliance requirements for data residency.
Immutable Storage: Use S3 Object Lock to create immutable backups, providing robust ransomware protection and audit-ready data retention for regulations like MiFID II.
NIS-2 Directive: Our continuous security processes, including multi-layer encryption and vulnerability management, align with NIS-2 supply-chain assurance requirements.
EU Data Act (Sept 2025): We ensure data portability by design, allowing you to export data, metadata, and versions, proving a real exit path with no lock-in.
This built-in compliance framework reduces risk and simplifies audits.
Empowering UK MSPs with Predictable Margins and Control
For our channel partners, predictability is the foundation of profitability. Our commercial model allows UK MSPs and resellers to build defensible margins for Backup-as-a-Service and archiving solutions. The absence of egress and API fees means costs remain stable, even as clients' data usage grows by over 20% annually. We provide a multi-tenant partner console with robust IAM, MFA, and RBAC for secure client management. With our new UK distributor, Northamber plc, local access and support for resellers is stronger than ever. This partner-ready approach ensures you can meet ICO compliance storage needs for your clients effectively.
Implementing a Resilient and Sovereign Backup Strategy
More Links
Wikipedia explains the concept of data sovereignty, which is the idea that data is subject to the laws and governance structures within the nation it is collected.
The European Commission provides information on data protection laws and regulations within the European Union.
The German Data Protection Conference offers a PDF document (in German) regarding cloud services.
FAQ
What is digital sovereignty?
Digital sovereignty is the ability for a nation, organization, or individual to have control over their own digital data, hardware, and software. For businesses, it means ensuring their data is subject only to the laws of the jurisdictions they choose to operate in.
Is Impossible Cloud compatible with my existing backup software?
Yes, Impossible Cloud offers full S3 API compatibility, making it an out-of-the-box solution for leading backup software vendors. Our collaboration with partners like NovaBackup ensures seamless integrations for MSPs and enterprises.
What does 'Always-Hot' storage mean?
An 'Always-Hot' storage model means all data is immediately accessible without any delays for retrieval from a colder storage tier. This simplifies operations, ensures predictable performance for applications, and avoids unexpected restore fees.
How does Immutable Storage protect against ransomware?
Immutable Storage, using features like S3 Object Lock, prevents data from being altered or deleted for a specified period. If a ransomware attack occurs, you can restore from these untouched, immutable backup copies, ensuring business continuity.
Can I manage multiple clients on the Impossible Cloud platform?
Yes, our platform is designed for MSPs and channel partners. It includes a multi-tenant management console with Identity and Access Management (IAM), role-based access control (RBAC), and MFA for secure, streamlined management of multiple client accounts.
How does your pricing work?
Our pricing is transparent and predictable. We charge based on the amount of data you store, with no egress fees, no API call costs, and no minimum storage durations. This eliminates surprise bills and allows for accurate budget forecasting.
