Establish a Baseline with ISO 27001 Certification

ISO/IEC 27001 is the international standard for an Information Security Management System (ISMS), providing a systematic framework for managing sensitive company information. For any organisation handling critical data, partnering with a cloud provider that holds this certification is a non-negotiable starting point. The certification process involves rigorous, independent audits, ensuring the provider has implemented a holistic security program. This verification confirms that controls for data protection, risk management, and operational security meet globally recognised best practices. Using an ISO 2 7001 certified provider helps you build your own compliance on a foundation of proven security. This standard is not a one-time check, but a commitment to continuous improvement and resilience against evolving threats.

Navigate the EU's Evolving Regulatory Landscape

Beyond a single certification, European businesses must comply with multiple overlapping regulations. Adherence to GDPR's strict data residency rules is fundamental, requiring data to be stored and processed within specific geographic locations to protect individuals' privacy. The NIS-2 Directive expands on this by imposing stringent cybersecurity measures on cloud providers as critical infrastructure, demanding robust risk management and incident reporting. Furthermore, the EU Data Act, fully applicable from 12 September 2025, will enforce data portability and progressively eliminate switching charges, including data egress fees. This legislation aims to prevent vendor lock-in, making transparent pricing a regulatory expectation. An ISO 27001 certified S3 storage solution designed in Europe addresses these interconnected requirements by design.

Architect for Sovereignty and Compliance by Design

A truly compliant storage solution integrates regulatory requirements into its core architecture. This sovereign-by-design approach goes beyond certifications to provide practical, enforceable controls over your data. It ensures your data lifecycle management aligns with EU law from day one. Key architectural components include:

• EU-Only Data Centers: Operation exclusively in certified European data centers ensures your data never leaves the EU's legal jurisdiction.
• Country-Level Geofencing: This feature provides granular control, allowing you to restrict data storage to specific EU countries to meet national data residency laws.
• Immutable Storage: Using S3 Object Lock provides verifiable, immutable backups, a critical defence against ransomware and a key component for audit-ready data retention.
• Zero Trust Security Model: A robust Identity and Access Management (IAM) system with multi-factor authentication and role-based access control (RBAC) secures data at every level.

This architecture provides a resilient and secure data environment.

Mitigate Extraterritorial Risk from the US CLOUD Act

A significant compliance risk for EU companies is the US CLOUD Act, a 2018 law that allows US authorities to demand data from US-based tech companies, regardless of where that data is stored. This creates a direct conflict with GDPR, as data stored in an EU data center by a US-headquartered provider may still be subject to access requests that bypass EU legal channels. This legal ambiguity undermines the principle of data sovereignty, even if your data physically resides in Europe. The only effective mitigation is to partner with a 100% European cloud provider. A provider with no legal presence in the US is not subject to the CLOUD Act, ensuring your data remains exclusively under EU jurisdiction and providing true European data protection.

Unlock Economic Predictability in Compliant Storage

Compliance should not come with unpredictable costs. Many cloud providers levy significant egress fees for data retrieval and additional charges for API calls, creating financial lock-in. This practice is directly challenged by the EU Data Act, which mandates the removal of such obstacles to switching providers. A forward-looking storage strategy embraces this shift with a transparent economic model. Look for a provider with zero egress fees, no API call costs, and no minimum storage durations. This predictable-by-design approach eliminates billing surprises, allowing for accurate budget forecasting with a total cost of ownership (TCO) reduction of up to 80%. For MSPs, this model provides stable, defensible margins for Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) and archiving solutions.

A 7-Point Checklist for Enterprise-Ready S3 Storage

When selecting an ISO 27001 certified S3 storage partner, enterprises should verify capabilities that ensure both compliance and operational excellence. Use this checklist to assess potential providers:

1. Advanced S3 Compatibility: The provider must support versioning, lifecycle management, and event notifications via API, CLI, and SDK to protect your existing toolchain investments.
2. Resilient Architecture: An "Always-Hot" object storage model ensures all data is immediately accessible, avoiding the restore delays and hidden fees common with complex tiering.
3. Granular IAM and Governance: The platform must support external identity providers via SAML/OIDC and offer a user-friendly console for managing permissions and policies without deep API expertise.
4. EU-Controlled Security: Ensure the provider offers EU-controlled key management and immutable backups with Object Lock for robust ransomware defence.
5. Regulatory Readiness: The provider's roadmap must align with upcoming regulations like the EU Data Act and NIS-2, demonstrating a proactive approach to compliance.
6. Transparent Economics: The pricing model must be free of egress fees, API charges, and minimum terms to guarantee predictability.
7. Proven Exit Strategy: The service must be built on open standards with clear processes for bulk data movement, ensuring you always retain control.

Empower the Channel with Sovereign-by-Design Storage

For Managed Service Providers, resellers, and system integrators, offering compliant storage is a significant competitive advantage. A partner-ready platform simplifies this with features designed for the channel. A multi-tenant console with granular RBAC and MFA allows MSPs to securely manage multiple client environments from a single interface. The predictable pricing model, with zero egress or API fees, enables MSPs to build BaaS and DR solutions with stable, defensible margins. Fast onboarding and automation via a full-featured API and CLI reduce operational overhead. With expanding distribution through partners like api in Germany and Northamber plc in the UK, access to sovereign, enterprise-grade S3 storage is simpler than ever. This empowers partners to deliver the compliance and security their clients demand.