Europe's largest data center provider, OVHcloud, is partnering with Norwegian cloud provider Crayon to develop a sovereign European data infrastructure.

The agreement enables organizations to access and build in more than 45 regions – not including the US – with the potential to deploy cloud services on OVHcloud data centers. These would then be managed by Crayon across its global customer base, with a figure of more than 45 regions covered by the deal.

According to a press release from both companies, Crayon could potentially benefit from access to OVHcloud’s full portfolio, ranging across bare metal servers to hosted private cloud options. The latter includes both VMware and Nutanix, public cloud, and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions such as those managed by Kubernetes.

The news comes as demand for European cloud sovereignty rises, with the likes of Microsoft and AWS launching EU-only entities to quell data concerns in the region.

Is Crayon the right choice?

The Microsoft mention is rather apt when concerning Crayon. The company’s heavy Redmond focus was the sweetener in fellow cloud provider SoftwareOne’s decision to buy its competitor for $1.4 billion.

According to Crayon CEO Melissa Mulholland, around 70% of the revenue for the combined SoftwareOne/Crayon entity would be related to business with Microsoft.

While Crayon and Switzerland’s SoftwareOne deliver other hyperscaler services, the Microsoft angle does cast a very North American shadow over the apparently sovereign and European promise from Crayon and OVHcloud.

Additionally, with the SoftwareOne acquisition to be finalized this month, there will be the usual changes expected when one company acquires another, making for a less than clear runway for OVHcloud to traverse with its new partner.

SoftwareOne, meanwhile, has had a bumpy ride in recent years due to disappointing financial results and a CEO joining and leaving within the space of a year.

For now, Europe and its data execs can only wait and watch to see what the Crayon and OVHcloud partnership brings to the sovereignty table – and how much it solves US hyperscale dependence.