"It’s not just about where your data lives - it’s about who should, or shouldn’t, have access to it."

In this episode of Softcat’s Explain IT podcast, host Helen Gidney, Head of Architecture at Softcat, is joined by Sabina Anja, Chief Technologist, VMware Cloud Foundation at Broadcom, and Gary Hawkins, Chief Technologist, Hybrid Platforms at Softcat, to demystify the complexities of Data Sovereignty.

As organisations face increasing regulatory pressure and the rapid adoption of AI, understanding where your data lives - and who controls it - is critical. The discussion explores how governance, the Cloud Act, and GDPR are reshaping cloud strategies across Europe, driving a renewed interest in private cloud and sovereign cloud solutions.

In this episode, Helen, Sabina and Gary discuss:

• Defining Data Sovereignty: Why it is not just about location, but about jurisdiction, technical control, and operational access.

• The Reality of Repatriation: Analysing the shift back to on-premise or Neo cloud environments to control data, without abandoning public cloud entirely.

• Modern Infrastructure: How containers, Kubernetes, and AI demands are influencing infrastructure and data design.

• The Power of Platforms: Meaningful insights on using VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF9) to provide a unified control plane for policy-based data sovereignty.

Thanks for listening to the Explain IT podcast from Softcat.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.