SUSE has launched Sovereign Premium Support, a new sovereignty offering for cloud customers in the EU.

The open-source provider plans to offer European networking users with strict data residency requirements personalized engineering support, with related data stored exclusively on EU-located networks and servers.

Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen, SUSE’s CEO, said: “The world has changed. It’s more uncertain geopolitically. Regulations are evolving fast. Being sovereign and resilient are critical concerns for organizations worldwide.”

SUSE’s decision to launch a European-centric sovereignty service comes as the continent is making it harder for data to be shared outside the bloc. The upcoming EU Data Act forces cloud service providers to shore up protections on services to European customers, regardless of the provider’s location.

Vendors have to abide by the Act from the beginning of September, with providers around the world racing to comply through a slew of new sovereign services.

In June, Microsoft expanded its Cloud for Sovereignty service, creating a dedicated iteration for European users.

Hyperscale rivals Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Oracle have also launched similar services, while platforms like OVHcloud and Deep opted for locally focused initiatives.

SUSE – the first company to market Linux-based systems for enterprises – focused its sovereignty offering on what van Leeuwen described as the “often least looked at… but hardest to deliver” business operations.

“Ultimately it is about the people – where are they? And how do we ensure we have the scale to deliver business continuity?” the CEO said.

SUSE Sovereign Premium Support touts the concept of being ‘open by design, sovereign by choice’, enabling users to tap into a host of open-source tools and solutions while keeping workloads secure and in line with incoming regulatory requirements.

“While this is a net new offering, our expertise in the field, coupled with our deep European roots and global capabilities, uniquely positions us to deliver the level of control and resilience our customers need over their data, operations, and technology,” van Leeuwen added.

Earlier this year, SUSE added data security updates to its open infrastructure platform, including blueprints for implementing agentic AI guardrails.