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Azure Sovereign Cloud
Ensure safe, secure and compliant data infrastructure without compromising on cloud capabilities
Azure Sovereign Cloud
Azure Sovereign Cloud is a specialised deployment of Microsoft Azure designed to satisfy the strict data residency, security and compliance requirements of governments and regulated industries. It provides a physically and logically isolated cloud environment, ensuring that data and workloads remain within specific national or regional boundaries under local jurisdiction.
Tailored for public sector and critical infrastructure organisations, it offers the full range of Azure services while maintaining strict control over access, data handling and operational transparency
Our Clients
Businesses that have trusted us to implement Microsoft Azure solutions successfully
Key features of Azure Sovereign Cloud
Data residency and sovereignty
All customer data both at rest and in transit remains within the designated national or regional boundaries. This helps ensure compliance with jurisdictional laws and prevents foreign access under non-local legislation.
Logical and physical isolation
Azure Sovereign Cloud operates on infrastructure fully separated from Microsoft’s global commercial cloud. Networks, identity systems and data centers are dedicated, with access restricted to authorised, locally governed entities
Compliance with local regulations
The platform is aligned with national and industry-specific compliance standards, including GDPR, ISO standards and host-country security frameworks. It is built to satisfy public sector, defence and regulated industry requirements.
Screened personnel and controlled access
Operations are handled by individuals who have passed security screening according to national criteria, reducing the risk of unauthorised access and meeting strict personnel compliance demands.
Integration with Azure ecosystem
Despite its isolation, Azure Sovereign Cloud supports a wide range of Azure services, including compute, storage, identity, AI and developer tools under the governance controls of the sovereign model.
Operational transparency and auditability
Organisations have full visibility into who accessed what, when and from where. Detailed auditing capabilities help maintain accountability and meet internal or regulatory audit requirements.
Custom governance and policy enforcement
Tools like Azure Policy and Azure Blueprints allow enforcement of operational standards, access rules and configuration baselines across all workloads, ensuring ongoing compliance with internal governance frameworks.
Resilience and high availability
Sovereign regions are built for reliability, with multiple availability zones, fault domains and disaster recovery systems, minimising risk from local outages or geopolitical disruptions.
Benefits of Azure Sovereign Cloud
Safely navigate data regulations
Azure Sovereign Cloud ensures that all customer data remains within defined national or regional boundaries. This helps organisations meet data protection laws and prevents exposure to foreign jurisdictions keeping legal control local.
Access to full Azure capability in a sovereign model
Organisations can modernise their digital infrastructure using a wide range of Azure services while maintaining complete jurisdictional control over data, operations and compliance policies.
Regulatory compliance
Satisfying stringent national and industry-specific regulations simplifies accreditation processes and reduces compliance risk for critical infrastructure workloads, while supporting auditability and documentation for regulatory reviews.
Comprehensive oversight and legal defensibility
By offering clear visibility of data use through detailed logging, auditing and governance, Azure Sovereign Cloud supports legal defensibility and satisfies government oversight requirements. Dashboards and automated reporting provide real-time visibility for compliance and governance functions.
Strict security and personnel governance
Operations are handled by locally vetted personnel under national clearance protocols. Combined with isolated infrastructure and Azure-native access controls, this approach aligns with the expectations of defence, intelligence and public safety agencies.
Scalability and reliability
The platform delivers the same availability zones, disaster recovery options and scalability as the global Azure cloud, ensuring continuity without compromising residency or control.
How we help with Azure Sovereign Cloud
At Claria, we work with organisations that operate under strict data control, residency and compliance requirements.
Our Azure Sovereign Cloud Services
Strategy and readiness assessment
We evaluate your regulatory context, data handling policies and IT architecture to determine if Azure Sovereign Cloud is the right fit. Our assessment provides a clear view of what’s required and what’s feasible.
Security and identity management
Using tools like Azure Active Directory, we define strict access controls aligned with zero-trust principles and national clearance requirements. No access is assumed, everything is controlled.
Migration to Azure Sovereign Cloud
Whether you're moving from on-prem infrastructure or commercial Azure, we plan and manage migrations to Azure Sovereign Cloud with minimal disruption. This includes data workloads, applications and identity services.
Managed services and ongoing support
Our managed services team offers proactive monitoring, incident response and platform optimisation for Azure Sovereign Cloud environments. We also provide ongoing compliance reviews and patch management to ensure sustained security and regulatory alignment.
Architecture design and deployment
We design architectures that respect sovereignty boundaries and security rules from identity and access control to segmented networking and regional data services. Our deployments are tailored, not templated.
Team Augmentation
If you need additional capacity or specialised expertise, we provide cleared, experienced professionals: cloud architects, engineers, compliance specialists, to support your team during key phases.
Workload and application enablement
We identify and enable suitable workloads for Azure Sovereign Cloud, prioritising applications with data sensitivity, national importance, or regulatory constraints. We also help modernise legacy systems for cloud-native performance and resilience.
Project management and delivery
From initial roadmap to final deployment, we manage delivery in line with your timelines, reporting structures and governance standards. Our approach supports public sector and high-compliance frameworks.
Certified Azure Sovereign Cloud Licensing Provider
At Claria, as a certified Microsoft Azure Partner, we support organisations in defining the right licensing structure for Azure Sovereign Cloud, especially where sensitive data, national compliance requirements and restricted access policies are in play.
Unlike standard Azure environments, Azure Sovereign Cloud licensing requires careful alignment with:
The number and nature of sovereign regions involved
Localisation of data handling and compute workloads
Access restrictions and identity requirements
Industry-specific compliance commitments
Long-term planning around growth, usage and scale
How Claria helps you with Azure Sovereign Cloud licensing
Context-driven licensing guidance
We help you understand what’s included, what’s restricted and what’s optional, based on the type of data and workloads you're dealing with.
Transparent cost modelling
We translate your architecture and workload plans into cost scenarios, avoiding hidden surprises and helping you forecast real spend over time.
Procurement support
We work with your commercial, legal and procurement teams to ensure contracts reflect your compliance needs, data residency priorities and support expectations.
Licensing aligned to governance
We map your licensing structure to your governance model, so that access rights, service availability and pricing scale logically as your environment grows.
Azure Sovereign Cloud Pricing and Cost
Understand the financial and operational impact of moving to a sovereign Azure environment
While Azure Sovereign Cloud shares the core pricing structure of commercial Azure, it introduces key distinctions that affect how services are billed, licensed and supported. These differences are important to evaluate early, especially for organisations operating in regulated, public sector or national security contexts.
See Azure prices
What affects the cost of Azure Sovereign Cloud?
Pricing models vary per Sovereign Cloud
Each Sovereign Cloud operated by Azure has its own pricing catalogue. Azure Government pricing is generally comparable to commercial Azure, although some services may cost more due to compliance, isolation, or operational overhead.
Licensing and agreements are mandatory
Using Azure Sovereign Cloud requires that customers enter agreements determined by the specific channels through which they enrol. For example, Azure Government customers need to qualify and sign a Government-specific Enterprise Agreement (EA) or use Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) channels authorised for Sovereign Cloud.
Service availability
Not all Azure services are available via sovereign clouds, meaning they may need to be supported by alternative architectures.
Operational overhead
The higher security, compliance and staffing requirements typically associated with building and maintaining integration solutions in heavily regulated industries can increase costs.
Data egress and storage
These are subject to the same general billing framework, but they may be priced slightly differently or have different thresholds.
Support plans
Separate support pricing structures may be tied to the sovereign environment.
Why choose Claria?
Your trusted Azure Sovereign Cloud partner
Designing and implementing integration infrastructure can be complicated enough without the additional security and compliance considerations imposed by heavily regulated industries.
Fortunately, as a trusted Microsoft Azure partner with experience of navigating sovereignty challenges on behalf of our clients, we at Claria have the rare combination of expertise to help your organisation devise an integration solution that successfully navigates your complex compliance landscape.
If data governance is central to your strategy, we’re the partner to work with.
Here’s why customers choose us:
Proven experience with sovereignty-driven projects
We’ve supported public sector bodies, healthcare institutions and global enterprises where data jurisdiction, personnel access and regulatory control are non-negotiable. We understand the nuance behind “data stays local.”
We turn compliance into architecture
Our team helps translate legal requirements, such as GDPR, NIS2 or national data laws, into enforceable cloud configurations. That includes identity management, encryption, access control and monitoring aligned with your internal policies.
Deep understanding of residency constraints
We’ve designed solutions where data must not leave specific regions or national borders. Using Azure’s sovereign capabilities, we help enforce those constraints without sacrificing functionality or performance.
Collaboration with internal governance stakeholders
We work directly with legal, security and compliance teams to ensure the technical deployment aligns with internal frameworks, audit requirements and escalation procedures.
Support for sensitive and secure environments
Claria offers access to SC-Cleared professionals qualified to work on projects involving classified or sensitive data. This includes environments tied to national security, policing and other regulated domains.
Security and compliance you can depend on
We are certified to ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus standards, giving your organisation the assurance that every project we deliver is rooted in strong data protection, privacy enforcement and audit-ready practices.
Long-term clarity, not short-term fixes
Our goal isn’t to “make it work” temporarily. We build scalable, well-documented solutions your teams can operate independently with ongoing control over access, change and policy enforcement.
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Azure Sovereign Cloud FAQs
Azure Sovereign Cloud is a specialised version of Microsoft Azure designed for governments, public sector organisations and critical infrastructure providers. It provides cloud services with strict data residency, sovereignty and compliance controls that align with national or regional regulations.
Azure Sovereign Cloud is physically and logically separated from the global Azure commercial cloud. It operates through region-specific datacentres and portals, has its own dedicated identity and access management and enforces stricter compliance controls, enabling it to meet country-specific legal and regulatory frameworks.
The availability of Azure services will vary by region and cloud type and so it is advisable to consult with Microsoft or a certified Azure partner on the availability of specified services at an early stage if you are looking to build a solution upon Azure Sovereign Cloud.
However, for UK-based organisations, core components for integration infrastructure - including Azure API Management, Azure Logic Apps, Azure Service Bus, Azure Functions and Key Vault - are all available via Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty, whereas Event Grid availability is limited at the time of writing.
Eligibility is typically limited to government entities, critical infrastructure operators, defence contractors and organisations subject to strict national or regional regulatory requirements. Microsoft works directly with eligible organisations to assess use cases and grant access.
Azure Sovereign Cloud ensures that all customer data remains within defined geographic boundaries. It does so by leveraging sovereign identity systems, regional datacentres and dedicated infrastructure. Microsoft provides compliance certifications and tools to help organisations meet local legal obligations.
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