Title: AWS re:Inforce 2024 - Choosing the right cloud infrastructure for digital sovereignty (GBL221)

Insights:

• Definition and Components of Digital Sovereignty: Digital sovereignty encompasses data residency, access restrictions (collectively known as data sovereignty), and operational sovereignty, which includes resiliency, survivability, and independence.
• Customer Requirements: Customers seek control over data storage and transfer, robust access controls to prevent unauthorized access, operational continuity despite natural or geopolitical disruptions, and the promotion of local skills and infrastructure.
• AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge: Announced in 2022, this pledge commits AWS to enhancing data protection, residency capabilities, access controls, and encryption features to ensure customer data security and sovereignty.
• European Sovereign Cloud: Set to launch in Germany by the end of 2025, this cloud infrastructure will be physically and logically independent, managed by EU residents, and designed to meet stringent data sovereignty requirements.
• Local Zones and AWS Outposts: AWS has introduced local zones in 35 metropolitan areas and AWS Outposts to bring cloud services closer to customer operations, addressing low latency and data residency needs.
• AWS Dedicated Local Zones: Launched in 2023, these zones offer dedicated infrastructure for specific customers or communities, providing tailored security and governance while maintaining connectivity to the public cloud.
• Customer Case Studies:
  • First Abu Dhabi Bank: Utilized AWS Outposts to enhance customer experience and meet data residency requirements, resulting in a 50% improvement in go-to-market time and a 60% increase in productivity.
  • Natural Soft: Leveraged AWS local zones to support its expansion strategy without investing in new infrastructure, meeting data residency requirements across multiple countries.
  • GovTech Singapore: Adopted AWS Dedicated Local Zones to transition sensitive workloads to the cloud while maintaining an isolated environment, facilitating a gradual move away from traditional data centers.

Quotes:

• "There is really no one definition of digital sovereignty."
• "Combining data sovereignty and operational sovereignty is what we view as digital sovereignty."
• "AWS has really understood what our customers are looking for."
• "We announced the AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge... committing to adding more services and features to further protect our customers' data."
• "The European Sovereign Cloud... will be located within the European Union and managed and operated by EU residents."
• "Local zones are a fully managed AWS infrastructure... allowing our customers to use compute and storage services closer to their operations."
• "AWS Dedicated Local Zones... are dedicated to a particular customer or community of customers."
• "First Abu Dhabi Bank... improved their go-to-market by 50% and improved the productivity of their developers and infrastructure teams by 60%."
• "Natural Soft... using local zones to meet their data residency requirements in the various countries they are expanding into."
• "GovTech... moving sensitive applications into a cloud environment, but maintaining it within an isolated environment."