Enterprise technology services provider Kyndryl has announced the expansion of its sovereignty solutioning through new capabilities and services developed with Microsoft.

According to its statement, the collaboration combines Kyndryl Sovereignty Solutioning with Microsoft Sovereign Cloud capabilities, helping customers design, build and operate cloud architectures that align with evolving data residency and operational requirements while maintaining flexibility and innovation. 

In particular, the capabilities support the full spectrum of Microsoft’s sovereign cloud approach, including public cloud capabilities and private cloud solutions using Microsoft Azure Local. 

Together, Kyndryl and Microsoft will help organisations address sovereignty across data and operational domains, translating regulatory frameworks into practical, scalable architectures that support modernisation, AI-enabled use cases and long-term compliance. 

The expanded offering comes as governments and highly regulated industries navigate geopolitical uncertainty, growing data localisation preferences and increasingly complex IT environments. 

As sovereignty becomes a design principle for IT strategies, organisations need trusted partners capable of translating regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, DORA and NIS2 into practical architectures. 

The joint capabilities combine Kyndryl’s advisory, engineering and operational expertise with Microsoft’s sovereign cloud offerings. 

Giovanni Carraro, Global Strategic Alliances Leader at Kyndryl, said that “Kyndryl understands the reality of sovereignty through our firsthand experience with government expectations in Europe, and our strategic alliance with Microsoft brings together complementary strengths to help customers operationalize sovereignty in a practical, scalable way”. 

Moreover, he added that “By collaborating with Microsoft, we can help customers align their sovereignty goals with real-world architectures, thus balancing control, resilience and performance across hybrid and distributed environments.” 

Ihab Foudeh, EMEA Enterprise Partner Solutions General Manager at Microsoft, for his part, said that “Kyndryl’s deep expertise in designing and operating complex, regulated environments complements Microsoft’s comprehensive sovereign cloud capabilities, including controls designed to support data residency requirements, access governance and regulatory compliance”. 

At the same time, he noted that “Together, we are helping organizations adopt cloud services in ways that respect their local requirements while still enabling modernization and innovation.” 

As part of the offering, customers can use Kyndryl’s Sovereignty Readiness Assessment to evaluate their current position across data, operational and technical domains. 

The assessment will help organisations identify gaps and dependencies before developing a phased roadmap that reflects their individual sovereignty requirements. 

Kyndryl will then support implementation and ongoing operations through sovereignty-ready architectures incorporating Microsoft Sovereign Cloud capabilities. 

More specifically, these include public cloud solutions using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, alongside sovereign private cloud solutions using Azure Local. 

The latter can operate through connected and disconnected deployment models designed to support different levels of data residency, operational independence and jurisdictional control, depending on each organisation’s requirements. 

Furthermore, the complementary and unified approach supports sensitive and regulated workloads, including AI-enabled use cases, with a particular focus on data governance and model locality. 

Kyndryl also brings experience in managing mission-critical systems from end to end. Through the collaboration, the company can help customers integrate Microsoft’s sovereign public cloud capabilities alongside private cloud solutions, regional providers and on-premises infrastructure. 

Consequently, organisations will be able to maintain flexibility and choice while operating under sovereignty constraints with the appropriate controls and visibility. 

Governments and organisations operating in highly regulated industries, including financial services, can use the capabilities to support workloads requiring strict data residency, enhanced auditability and controlled operational access within national or regional boundaries.