Data sovereignty is a hot topic of the year, driven by the massive proliferation of data, the rise of multinational hyperscalers, and the increasing use of AI. The Pure Report podcast welcomes Pure Field CTO for EMEA, Patrick Smith, to define this critical concept—data being subject to the laws and governance of the country in which it is created or stored—and to explain why enterprises must now focus not just on location, but on who manages, accesses, and controls their data. We discuss how a confluence of circumstances, including recent cloud provider outages, has highlighted the interconnected world and the risks inherent in where data resides, propelling this issue to the forefront for IT leaders globally.

Patrick dives into the three prevailing factors driving the need for a data sovereignty strategy: increasing data sensitivity and regulation (like GDPR), the massive growth and reliance on public cloud environments, and unpredictable geopolitical issues that create risk. He shares key findings from the recent University of Sydney survey, revealing a heightened sense of urgency: 100% of respondents are reconsidering their data’s location due to sovereignty concerns, and 78% are actively adopting strategies for sovereign capabilities. We also break down the strategic options available, ranging from doing nothing or too much (and accepting the risk) to the preferred middle-ground approach of a thorough risk assessment to guide placement decisions.

Our conversation shifts to actionable steps, with Patrick emphasizing that good data governance is the essential underpinning for any successful sovereignty strategy. We explore the necessity of a hybrid multi-cloud architecture that embeds sovereign capabilities, allowing organizations to run the right application in the right location based on its risk profile and move it easily if regulation changes. Finally, Patrick explains how Pure’s Enterprise Data Cloud—focused on simplicity, automation, and industry-leading energy efficiency—directly intersects with and helps solve the challenges of delivering sovereign capabilities, leading to the crucial, easy win: understand the domain, track regulation, and above all, don't ignore the changing data landscape.

To read the report about Data Sovereignty, visit https://www.purestorage.com/resources/type-a/data-sovereignty-a-new-era.html

Check out the new Pure Storage digital customer community to join the conversation with peers and Pure experts:

https://purecommunity.purestorage.com/

00:00 Intro and Welcome

02:17 A Day in the Life of a Field CTO

05:15 Defining Data Sovereignty

08:22 Trends around Data Sovereignty

11:36 Results from a User Survey on Data Sovereignty

16:25 Options for Managing Data Sovereignty

19:24 Getting Started with Data Sovereignty Actions

23:40 Evaluating Sovereign Data Providers

26:10 How Pure’s Enterprise Data Cloud Helps