Europe has been discussing digital sovereignty for years, but in 2026 the debate is starting to translate into actual products. OVHcloud and OpenNebula Systems have announced a collaboration to offer OpenNebula-based cloud instances on certified European infrastructure, aimed at enabling fully sovereign deployments under EU jurisdiction and without dependence on proprietary technologies.
The initiative is part of the Hosted OpenNebula Cloud – Ready Certification Program and aligns with the IPCEI-CIS initiative, a pan-European project of common interest focused on strengthening cloud infrastructure and service capabilities across the continent. In the statement, OVHcloud emphasizes that the proposal relies on its high-performance and GDPR-compliant infrastructure located in several European regions, with the promise of an interoperable platform for building private clouds hosted in Europe and with long-term compatibility with future OpenNebula versions.
From theory to architecture: federation, hybrid, and multicloud
Beyond the headline, the agreement targets a critical point: real interoperability. According to the shared information, OpenNebula instances on OVHcloud will enable federation between OpenNebula environments and integration with private or hosted clouds, paving the way for hybrid and multicloud architectures without forcing vendors into a single-provider lock-in. The announcement also highlights that these deployments are designed for R&D, testing, and interoperability initiatives within European regions.
Practically, this approach responds to a demand long voiced by many organizations—especially in the public sector, regulated industries, and operators with data residency needs: maintaining control over where data resides while enabling movement across environments with minimal technical friction. In a market dominated by large closed platforms, the concept of federating infrastructure and expanding to hybrid models without vendor lock-in is a message that resonates deeply within the European strategy.
The role of IPCEI-CIS and the European “stack”
The collaboration is also compatible with the IPCEI-CIS Reference Architecture, which aims to facilitate secure deployments of cloud resources under European jurisdiction, adopting a distributed and multi-vendor approach suitable for research, public administration, and enterprise use cases.
OpenNebula is particularly positioned in this space: the company states that it leads integration activities within IPCEI-CIS, and that its platform’s next-generation evolution aims to enhance scalability, portability, and interoperability across the cloud-edge continuum, with increasing focus on automation and orchestration.
Statements: “Making cloud sovereignty practical”
The announcement is accompanied by messages with political and technical implications. Alexander Sergunin, Global Partner Manager of OpenNebula Systems, describes the partnership as “a concrete step” toward turning sovereign cloud into a practical reality in Europe, reinforcing an “open, interoperable, and compliant” ecosystem that enables the construction of hybrid clouds based on European software and services.
For OVHcloud, John Gazal, Vice President for Southern Europe, argues that the collaboration aligns with their mission to offer sovereign options “without compromising performance, flexibility, or interoperability” thanks to open source, presenting it as a ready-to-use alternative to other virtualization stacks.
Infrastructure: bare metal, automated provisioning, and self-service
The release emphasizes that OVHcloud’s platform supports demanding workloads in private, hybrid, and edge scenarios, allowing clients to deploy OpenNebula on high-performance bare-metal servers with automated provisioning, reference architectures, and self-service options.
Behind this list of concepts lies a clear message: the market no longer asks only for “cloud,” but for data control, governance, reasonable latency, and scalable infrastructure without each step requiring renegotiation of technical dependencies. In a context where artificial intelligence and intensive computing are reshaping infrastructure needs, sovereignty is also about operational resilience: the ability to choose, combine providers, and maintain exit routes.
A European provider with global scale
OVHcloud takes this opportunity to highlight its scale: over 500,000 servers across 46 data centers in 4 continents, serving 1.6 million customers in more than 140 countries. It also emphasizes its integrated model—covering server design, data center construction and operation, and network orchestration—as the foundation for delivering the “price-performance,” sustainability, and data sovereignty trifecta.
The message to the industry is clear: sovereign cloud isn’t just about rhetoric; it requires a catalog, automation, and industrial capacity. If successful, the OVHcloud–OpenNebula partnership could serve as a practical example of how Europe aims to translate regulations, standards, and industrial programs into tangible infrastructure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “sovereign cloud” mean in a deployment with OpenNebula and OVHcloud?
It involves operating under EU jurisdiction, with control over data residency and governance, and greater freedom to avoid vendor lock-in through open and interoperable technologies.
What benefits does federation between OpenNebula environments offer within a hybrid strategy?
It allows connecting and coordinating multiple environments (e.g., private cloud + hosted cloud) to move workloads, standardize operations, and enable business continuity without reliance on a single provider.
Which organizations are best suited for a “certified” OpenNebula cloud in Europe?
It is particularly attractive to the public sector, regulated companies, industries with compliance requirements (GDPR), and organizations prioritizing multicloud portability and technological transparency.
What role does IPCEI-CIS play in digital sovereignty initiatives?
IPCEI-CIS aims to accelerate an interoperable European cloud ecosystem. In this context, it acts as a reference framework for distributed, multi-vendor architectures focused on research, public administration, and enterprise.