Sovereign Cloud Migration

Data Sovereignty in the Cloud

US hyperscalers offer scalability and features - but not data sovereignty. For regulated industries, sensitive data, or strategic independence, European alternatives are essential.

Why Sovereign Cloud?

Legal Certainty

• GDPR Compliance - EU law, EU jurisdiction
• CLOUD Act - No access by US authorities
• NIS2/DORA - Meet compliance requirements

Strategic Independence

• No Vendor Lock-in - No dependence on US corporations
• EU-based Support - Local contacts, local law
• Political Independence - No impact from US sanctions

Cost Transparency

• Simpler Pricing Models - Often cheaper than AWS/Azure
• No Hidden Costs - Transparent billing
• Regional Data Centers - Low latency in Europe

EU/German Cloud Providers

IONOS Cloud

Who: 1&1 / United Internet DC: Frankfurt, Berlin, Logrono (Spain) Strengths:

• German provider with GDPR focus
• Complete IaaS portfolio
• Kubernetes, Object Storage, Managed Databases
• Compliance-certified (ISO 27001, C5)

Hetzner Cloud

Who: German hosting provider since 1997 DC: Falkenstein, Nuremberg, Helsinki Strengths:

• Excellent price-performance ratio
• Kubernetes, Load Balancer, Volumes
• Simple, transparent pricing
• Strong community

Open Telekom Cloud (OTC)

Who: Deutsche Telekom + Huawei DC: Magdeburg, Biere Strengths:

• Enterprise-grade cloud
• Compliance (C5, BSI, ISO)
• Extensive service portfolio
• Dedicated resources available

plusserver / STACKIT

Who: Schwarz IT (Lidl/Kaufland) DC: Germany Strengths:

• GAIA-X member
• Sovereign Cloud focus
• Enterprise support
• VMware compatibility

Migration from US Cloud to EU Cloud

Assessment

• Which workloads require data sovereignty?
• Which US cloud services are being used?
• Are there EU equivalents?
• Compliance requirements?

Provider Selection

We help with evaluation:

• Feature Matching - What does the EU provider offer?
• Cost Comparison - TCO AWS vs. IONOS/Hetzner
• Performance Testing - Benchmarks
• Compliance Check - Does the provider meet your requirements?

Migration

• Lift & Shift - Migrate VMs
• Replatform - To EU-native services (e.g., Managed Kubernetes)
• Hybrid - Gradual migration, parallel operation

Data Residency

Ensuring data stays in the EU:

• Regional Replication - Only within EU
• Backup in EU - No backups in US
• Support Access - EU personnel only

Hybrid Cloud with EU Anchoring

Not everything needs to migrate:

• Critical Data -> EU Cloud
• Non-critical Workloads -> US Cloud (cheaper/more features)
• Hybrid Connectivity - Secure tunnel between clouds

Sovereign Kubernetes

Kubernetes on EU infrastructure:

• IONOS Managed Kubernetes
• Hetzner Kubernetes
• OTC Cloud Container Engine
• Self-Managed K8s on EU VMs

Open-Source First

Combination of Sovereign Cloud + Open Source:

• Nextcloud instead of OneDrive/Google Drive
• GitLab self-hosted instead of GitHub
• Keycloak instead of Auth0
• Self-hosted LLMs (Ollama) instead of OpenAI

GAIA-X Compliance

We advise on GAIA-X-compliant solutions:

• European cloud initiative for data sovereignty
• Standardized service definitions
• Transparency and portability

Typical Use Cases

Public Administration

• GDPR + IT security standards
• NIS2 requirements
• Political independence

Healthcare

• Patient data -> stays in EU
• Strict compliance (GDPR, HIPAA-equivalent)
• Auditability

Financial Services

• DORA compliance
• Regulatory requirements
• Resilience testing

Mid-Market Companies

• Strategic independence
• Cost optimization
• GDPR compliance

Cost Example

Resource	AWS (Frankfurt)	IONOS Cloud	Hetzner Cloud
2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM	~EUR60/month	~EUR15/month	~EUR7/month
100 GB SSD	~EUR10/month	~EUR4/month	~EUR5/month
1 TB Traffic	~EUR90/month	incl.	incl.

Savings often 50-70% with comparable performance

Why alfatier for Sovereign Cloud?

• Real Experience - Production workloads on EU clouds
• Vendor-neutral - We recommend what fits
• Multi-Cloud - Hybrid between US + EU no problem
• Compliance Focus - GDPR, NIS2, DORA