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European Cloud
German Cloud

Secure European Veeam Backups with Sovereign, S3-Compatible Cloud Storage

14.09.2025

10

Minutes
Thomas Demoor
CTO Impossible Cloud
A 2025 guide to achieving GDPR compliance, predictable costs, and ransomware resilience for your Veeam backups in Europe.

For European enterprises and MSPs, selecting the right cloud storage for Veeam is a critical decision involving more than just capacity. It requires balancing performance, cost, and an increasingly complex regulatory landscape defined by GDPR and the CLOUD Act. Many organizations feel locked into providers by complex pricing, including surprise egress fees that penalize data recovery. The solution lies in a new approach: sovereign, S3-compatible object storage designed for Europe. This model provides the digital sovereignty, predictable economics, and robust security features like immutable backups needed to protect critical data without compromise.

Schlüsselpunkte

  • Prioritize European cloud providers to ensure GDPR compliance and data sovereignty for Veeam backups, mitigating risks from foreign laws like the CLOUD Act.
  • Choose storage with a transparent pricing model—no egress fees or API call costs—to create predictable budgets and eliminate financial penalties for data recovery.
  • Leverage full S3 compatibility with Object Lock to create immutable, ransomware-proof backups that integrate seamlessly with existing Veeam workflows.

Prioritize Digital Sovereignty for Veeam Backups

Data sovereignty is the principle that data is subject to the laws of the nation where it is stored. For any company operating in the EU, storing Veeam backups in a European-owned and operated cloud is the most direct path to GDPR compliance. This strategy ensures data residency within the EU, a key criterion for over 80% of European organizations using cloud services. Storing data exclusively in certified European data centers mitigates the risk of exposure to foreign laws like the US CLOUD Act. This provides the legal certainty required for regulated industries like finance and healthcare. A European cloud provider guarantees that EU data protection rules are the sole governing framework. This focus on sovereignty is the foundation for building a truly resilient and compliant backup infrastructure.

Eliminate Unpredictable Costs with a Transparent Model

A significant pain point for IT leaders is the unpredictable cost associated with cloud storage, driven by hidden fees. Many providers charge substantial egress fees for data retrieval, which directly penalizes recovery operations-a core function of any Veeam backup. An audit of one large organization suggested egress fees could add over $30 million annually to their cloud bill by 2025. Impossible Cloud offers a transparent economic model with zero egress fees, no API call costs, and no minimum storage durations. This predictable-by-design approach allows for precise budget forecasting and removes financial barriers to data recovery. For MSPs, this translates to stable, defensible margins for Backup-as-a-Service offerings. This clear economic advantage makes European object storage a practical alternative.

Leverage Full S3 Compatibility for Seamless Veeam Integration

True enterprise-readiness depends on seamless integration with your existing tools, and Veeam is no exception. Full S3 API compatibility ensures that your Veeam workflows, scripts, and applications continue to operate without modification. This goes beyond basic object operations to include advanced capabilities like versioning, lifecycle management, and event notifications. An S3-compatible platform protects your past investments in backup infrastructure and minimizes migration risk. Veeam supports any object storage that implements the required S3 API subset, making the transition smooth. Here is what to expect from a fully compatible integration:

  • Direct-to-object storage for primary backup repositories.
  • Support for Scale-Out Backup Repository (SOBR) capacity tiers.
  • Integration with advanced features like Object Lock for immutability.
  • No need for code rewrites or complex workarounds.
  • Consistent performance for both backup and restore operations.

This deep integration ensures your Veeam solutions perform optimally from day one.

Build Resilience with an Always-Hot Architecture

Traditional cloud storage often relies on complex tiering models, moving data between hot, cool, and archive layers to manage costs. However, these policies can be brittle, causing restore delays, API timeouts, and unexpected retrieval fees when you need data urgently. An "Always-Hot" object storage model eliminates this complexity entirely. All data is immediately accessible without any tier-restore delays, ensuring predictable latencies for Veeam recovery operations. This architecture is built for consistency and availability, handling millions of small files as effectively as large backup sets. By avoiding fragile tiering, you reduce operational overhead and ensure your third-party tools remain stable and performant. This approach strengthens your overall backup strategy and auditability.

Activate Ransomware Defense with Immutable Backups

Ransomware remains a top threat, making immutable backups a non-negotiable part of any modern data protection strategy. S3 Object Lock provides a write-once-read-many (WORM) model that makes backup files unchangeable and undeletable for a specified retention period. Veeam integrates directly with S3 Object Lock, allowing you to create a true air-gapped backup that even an attacker with administrative credentials cannot compromise. This feature is your last line of defense, ensuring a clean recovery point is always available. Operating exclusively in certified EU data centers adds another layer of security. Geofenced storage keeps your immutable backups under EU jurisdiction, providing a robust defense against both cyber threats and regulatory non-compliance. This makes it the best storage for Veeam when security is paramount.

Prepare for 2025 Regulations: EU Data Act and NIS-2

Forthcoming EU regulations will reshape the cloud landscape, and your storage choice should be future-proof. The EU Data Act, applicable from September 2025, mandates data portability and interoperability to prevent vendor lock-in. A provider with no egress fees and open standards is already aligned with this principle. The NIS-2 Directive requires stronger cybersecurity measures, including supply-chain assurance and continuous security processes. A sovereign cloud provider with a focus on security and EU-centric governance helps meet these obligations. Key considerations for regulatory readiness include:

  1. Data Portability: Ensure you can export all data, including metadata and versions, without penalty.
  2. Supply Chain Security: Choose a provider with transparent, EU-based operations.
  3. Incident Reporting: Work with a partner who understands and can support NIS-2 incident timelines.
  4. Security by Design: The platform should have baked-in security, not bolted-on afterthoughts.

Choosing the right cloud backup storage today is a competitive advantage for tomorrow.

Empower MSPs with a Partner-Ready Platform

For MSPs, resellers, and system integrators, a successful cloud storage partnership hinges on predictability and ease of management. The transparent cost model with zero egress fees ensures stable and defensible margins for BaaS and archiving services. A partner-ready platform provides the tools needed to efficiently serve multiple clients. This includes a multi-tenant console with role-based access control (RBAC) and multi-factor authentication (MFA). Automation via API/CLI and comprehensive reporting simplify operations and accelerate onboarding. With expanding local access through distributors like api in Germany and Northamber plc in the UK, European partners have a clear path to growth. This makes it the best cloud storage for Veeam in Germany and beyond for the channel.

FAQ

How does European cloud storage help with GDPR compliance?

By storing data exclusively in certified data centers within the EU, European cloud storage ensures your Veeam backups are subject only to EU data protection laws. This fulfills the data residency requirements of GDPR and avoids complications from extraterritorial laws like the US CLOUD Act.


What does 'Always-Hot' storage mean for Veeam restores?

An 'Always-Hot' storage model means all your backup data is immediately accessible at all times. Unlike tiered storage that may require time to move data from a cheaper 'cold' tier to an accessible 'hot' tier, this model eliminates restore delays and retrieval fees, ensuring fast and predictable recovery.


Can I migrate my existing Veeam backups easily?

Yes, migrating to a fully S3-compatible object storage is straightforward. Because the S3 API is the standard for object storage, Veeam can target the new repository without requiring changes to your backup architecture or scripts. The process involves adding the new storage as a repository and pointing your backup jobs to it.


What advantages does your model offer Managed Service Providers (MSPs)?

For MSPs, the primary advantages are predictable margins and simplified management. With no egress or API fees, MSPs can offer Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) with clear, defensible pricing. A multi-tenant console, automation tools, and robust security features also make it easy to manage multiple customers efficiently.


How does your storage align with the upcoming EU Data Act?

The EU Data Act, effective from September 2025, requires cloud providers to facilitate easy data portability to prevent vendor lock-in. Our model is inherently aligned with this, as we have no egress fees and use the open S3 API standard, ensuring you can move your data freely at any time.


What is geofenced storage?

Geofencing ensures that your data is physically and legally contained within a specific geographic region, such as a single country or the entire EU. This provides an additional layer of control for meeting strict data residency and sovereignty requirements for sensitive workloads.


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