Company wants to expand cloud offering to include Infrastructure-as-a-Service platform
German software company SAP is planning to invest more than €20 billion ($23.3bn) in expanding its sovereign cloud offering in Europe.
The investment plan will span the next 10 years, reports CNBC.
Among SAP's plans is to bring an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform to its European cloud offerings, as well as launching an on-prem version of its SAP infrastructure for customers to deploy in their data centers.
In addition, SAP offers Delos Cloud, a cloud solution available in Germany for the public sector to meet national sovereignty requirements.
According to the CNBC report, the aim of the project is to help SAP meet EU data compliance regulations such as GDPR.
“Innovation and sovereignty cannot be two separate things — it needs to come together,” Thomas Saueressig, SAP board member, said during a press briefing, adding that European companies need to be able to access technologies in a "full sovereign context.”
"Europe's digital resilience depends on sovereignty that is secure, scalable, and future-proof. SAP's comprehensive sovereign cloud offering delivers just that, giving customers the freedom to choose their deployment model while helping ensure compliance with the highest standards," added Martin Merz, president of SAP Sovereign Cloud, in a written statement.
Earlier this year, SAP revealed it was working with Deutsche Telekom, Ionos, and Schwarz on developing an AI data center in Europe, seeking support from the European Union.
SAP is typically known for its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, not IaaS offerings, which are similar to the services offered by cloud hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Google etc. Despite this, SAP launched its IaaS offering in May 2024.
According to the company website, it also offers a "4+1" strategy - in which it uses four other cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud) in conjunction with its own infrastructure.
SAP services are available from multiple data centers globally. The company says it has 32 locations in North America, two in South America, 32 in Europe, 15 in Africa, 20 in Asia, and four in Australasia. It is not stated if these include other companies' cloud regions and colocation facilities, though it is likely.
SAP teamed up with Alibaba Cloud in May of this year. In Alibaba's recent earnings call, the Alibaba chairman Eddie Wu noted that SAP would use Alibaba's Q1 (Qwen) models to "provide AI transformation services for its enterprise customers." He added: "This partnership signifies the recognition of our cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities by the global leading enterprises in the SAP ecosystem."
The software company counts the UK's BBC among its customers, with the broadcaster announcing a migration effort to RISE with SAP on AWS in November 2024.
Source: DCD
