EU Cloud Migration
Transitioning to Sovereign, GDPR-Compliant Infrastructure: Migrate data and workloads from US cloud providers to European sovereign clouds with zero downtime and full GDPR compliance.
For thousands of European organizations, the realization that their data is stored on US soil, governed by US law, and potentially subject to CLOUD Act access has become urgent. Yet migration remains daunting: applications may depend on US provider proprietary services, teams lack experience with alternative providers, and concerns about disruption and downtime delay action even when compliance risks are understood.
The Urgency
Your data on US soil is legally exposed to CLOUD Act access, violating GDPR Article 48. Migration to EU sovereign clouds is no longer optional—it's essential for organizations handling EU citizen data.
European Sovereign Cloud Options
The EU cloud provider landscape is more plentiful than one might think. Here is a short overview, but there are many more:
OVHcloud (France): Comprehensive services, S3-compatible storage, Kubernetes, managed databases. General-purpose workloads.
Scaleway (France): Cost-competitive with strong performance. Best for startups and scale-ups.
Hetzner (Germany): Excellent price-to-performance ratio. Ideal for web applications and databases.
Migration Approach
Phase 1: Assessment
- Inventory all workloads and data
- Identify what must migrate (regulated data, EU personal data)
- Identify what can stay (non-sensitive, global data)
- Estimate migration effort and timeline
Phase 2: Planning
- Select sovereign cloud provider(s)
- Design target architecture (often hybrid: sovereign + hyperscalers)
- Identify migration tools and approaches
- Plan for minimal downtime
Phase 3: Pilot
- Migrate non-critical workload first
- Validate provider performance and compliance
- Identify and resolve issues at small scale
Phase 4: Production Migration
- Use hybrid cloud approach during transition
- Maintain data synchronization between old and new
- Validate compliance after migration
- Decommission old infrastructure
Reality Check
- Timeline: 3-12 months depending on complexity
- Cost: Often ROI within 2-3 years through eliminated US provider costs
- Effort: Significant but manageable with planning
Benefits of EU Cloud Migration
- ✓ Eliminates CLOUD Act exposure
- ✓ Achieves genuine GDPR compliance
- ✓ Improves negotiating position with customers and cloud providers
- ✓ Demonstrates data sovereignty commitment
Strategic Considerations
Successful EU cloud migration requires strategic planning. First, assess your workload portfolio. Not all workloads require migration—non-sensitive, globally-distributed systems may remain with hyperscalers. Business-critical systems, personal data of EU residents, intellectual property, and regulated data must migrate to sovereign clouds.
Implement a phased strategy: assess workloads, plan architecture (often hybrid: sovereign + hyperscalers), validate provider capabilities with a pilot migration of non-critical systems, then migrate production workloads. During transition, hybrid cloud approaches run workloads across both old and new providers with load balancing between them, validating successful migration before fully cutting over.