Did you know that Swiss bank accounts are popular among consumers due to their low risk and strict privacy standards? The concept of data sovereignty is similar, except that now the “goods” in question are data.
Most recently, at VMware Explore 2022 in Singapore, the pioneer in multi-cloud solutions made several exciting announcements: VMware Tanzu on the sovereign cloud, VMware Aria Operations Compliance pack for sovereign clouds, and new open ecosystem solutions. Together, these new developments in Sovereign SaaS will allow partners to provide services on par with those offered by public clouds while providing more assurance that data is secure, compliant, and hosted within their own country.
Jurisdictional Control and Data Compliance
If you want to open up new avenues for economic development at the national level, investing in a system of sovereign clouds that can provide round-the-clock security and strict access regulations is a must. Sovereign SaaS allows Sovereign Cloud Providers like VMware to provide distinctive solutions to capture contemporary workloads, streamline operations with continuous compliance monitoring, and facilitate data monetisation with less risk.
“Without control of the cloud, data sovereignty is meaningless. Further, Rajeev Bhardwaj, Vice President of Cloud Provider Platform Solutions at VMware, emphasised that security and privacy concerns should not stifle cloud development. By introducing SaaS services in sovereign settings, we are once again at the forefront of innovation with our new sovereign cloud developments. Because of this, VMware Sovereign Cloud providers will be able to assist their clients in lowering the risk associated with unlocking the value of their data as they innovate and drive digital transformation.
Tanzu for Sovereign Cloud
Consumers who operate under strict regulations understand the need of updating their apps to better communicate with their customers and provide for their safety, productivity, and resilience. Storage Units and Kubernetes provide a route forward into the new era. The updated VMware Tanzu portfolio was created with the intention of utilising a private cloud, where contemporary apps can be written, deployed, managed, and secured in a standardised fashion on an enterprise-grade Kubernetes platform hosted on the company’s own private cloud. VMware Explore Singapore 2022 claims that the Tanzu portfolio streamlines platform operations, allowing developers more freedom to work efficiently and have access to the tools they need to create superior apps. There is talk that partners will be delivering a version of Tanzu that is “sovereign ready” directly from their own, privately operated, and wholly isolated sovereign cloud data centres.
VMware Tanzu solutions for the national cloud announced so far include:
- Tanzu Kubernetes Grid
Customers may benefit from streamlined installation, automated multi-cluster operations, and unified platform services with VMware’s enterprise-ready Kubernetes runtime. In order to facilitate the development, setup, and deployment of applications to Kubernetes, the Carvel-based tooling provides a collection of trustworthy, single-purpose, composable tools. In order to provide monitoring and ingress capabilities for private clouds, Tanzu Kubernetes Grid incorporates open-source components like Fluent Bit, Prometheus, Grafana, and Contour. Open-source metrics, traces, and logs show the likely origins of Kubernetes cluster failures, allowing organisations to keep an eye on the situation and make adjustments as needed to keep traffic within acceptable bounds. - Tanzu Application Platform
With the help of the tools and services offered by the Sovereign-ready Tanzu Application Platform, development teams can safely and quickly deploy their code to production environments. Improved security and compliance in sovereign cloud settings are now possible with the addition of air-gapped installation to the Tanzu Application Platform. The Backstage API plugin’s support for Dynamic API standard registration has increased developers’ efficiency by streamlining the safe automation of API publication, consumption, and collaboration. Security checks and safe app deployments may be simplified with the help of a new unified vulnerability monitoring dashboard for app teams. Increase the reach of ecosystem integrations with Tanzu Application Platform’s new support for Red Hat OpenShift, Jenkins, and Carbon. - Tanzu Mission Control
With Tanzu Mission Control, operators will have more visibility, control, and security; DevOps teams will benefit from increased consistency and speed, and developers will appreciate the increased freedom and independence afforded by the platform’s Sovereign readiness. Sovereign cloud partners can now make use of the benefits of Kubernetes with the help of Tanzu Mission Control without giving up control of their network infrastructure. Eliminating redundant procedures and saving time are two of the many benefits of managing many Kubernetes clusters from a central control plane. VMware is aiming to allow private deployments of Tanzu Mission Control in sovereign cloud settings. Right now, the service is available only to beta testers. - VMware Data Solutions
The VMware Data Solutions team (previously Tanzu Data Services) encourages lawful and proper data administration practices. In order to fine-tune their instances for the best application performance, customers have access to a self-service user interface and API for the lifecycle management of these services. VMware RabbitMQ is a lightweight, easy-to-deploy message broker that supports a variety of messaging protocols and can be set up in both centralised and decentralised deployment models to meet the needs of enterprises with complex messaging infrastructures that demand high availability and scalability. VMware’s open-source SQL Database (Postgres & MySQL) is a relational database service that automates time-consuming administrative tasks while enabling low-cost, highly-scalable and instantly available installations. VMware Cloud Director is included in VMware Data Solutions, making it easier to manage and deploy to private clouds. There will be other services in addition to VMware RabbitMQ and VMware SQL, both of which are now accessible.
Data Monetisation vs. Data Sovereignty
It’s no surprise that, in the face of growing economic instability, more and more business leaders are looking to their data as a potential new revenue stream for their companies. However, the drawbacks are just as significant, with 95% of respondents acknowledging that data sovereignty is a worry for their organisation. Companies who breach customer information and so are not in compliance with data-sovereignty requirements face fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars and a hit to their brand’s image. There are already more than 100 nations with their own laws regulating the handling and storage of data within their borders, and the majority of these restrictions are always evolving.
Check out more scoops on VMware Explore Singapore 2022 here.
