SEATTLE, WA – October 20, 2026 – Veeam® Software, the Data and AI Trust Company, today announced the Veeam Sovereign Service Providers Program, a phased global initiative designed to help customers identify trusted local service providers that combine sovereign operating capabilities with Veeam-powered sovereign data resilience and security. The first phase introduces the Data Sovereignty Competency within the Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) program, with additional program offerings planned for later this year.
Through the program, Veeam provides the technical capabilities for sovereign data protection, while participating service providers contribute local operating models, governance, jurisdictional expertise, and established market presence to deliver services aligned with customer needs. Together, these complementary strengths enable customers to assess solutions across data location, operational control, access governance, and legal jurisdiction without compromising cyber resilience or recoverability.
Data sovereignty requirements are expanding as governments and regulators introduce or develop rules concerning data residency, access, control, portability, and jurisdiction. At the same time, geopolitical uncertainty, cross-border dependencies, and accelerating AI adoption are increasing scrutiny of where sensitive data resides, who can access it and which laws apply. Organizations that previously treated sovereignty as a specialist public-sector or regulated-industry concern may increasingly need to demonstrate greater control and transparency across their data estates.
“Sovereignty is defined by each customer’s regional government, legal, regulatory and operational requirements. Meeting those requirements depends on both technology and the way a service is operated,” said Michelle Graff, Senior Vice President, Global Partnerships at Veeam. “The Veeam Sovereign Service Providers Program brings those two dimensions together. Veeam provides the technical foundation for resilient data protection, while trusted local partners contribute sovereign operating models, governance expertise, and established in-market capabilities. The VCSP Data Sovereignty Competency gives customers a clearer way to identify providers that have invested in both.”
Recent Veeam research found that 70% of organizations admit AI workflows are interacting with sensitive corporate data without full oversight, while 67% report employees are creating autonomous AI workflows that IT teams cannot fully track. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in business operations, strong data governance, local control, and resilient protection are becoming increasingly important.
The VCSP Data Sovereignty Competency is designed to help customers identify providers that have demonstrated capabilities against defined program criteria covering operational, legal, technological, and governance considerations. Requirements include evidence relating to local operating models, jurisdictional controls, in-region personnel, data governance processes, customer oversight, and resilient data protection. The competency recognizes provider capabilities against Veeam’s program requirements; it does not replace a customer’s own legal, regulatory, risk or compliance assessment.
Veeam’s existing product capabilities, together with continued investment in additional sovereignty capabilities to address rapidly evolving regulatory requirements, provide the technical foundation for participating partners’ services. Combined with the sovereign operating capabilities of qualified local providers, these joint solutions are designed to help customers address current data sovereignty requirements while adapting to an increasingly unpredictable regulatory and geopolitical environment.
Built on Veeam’s commitment to customer choice, the Data Sovereignty Competency is intended to sit alongside other VCSP competencies. Customers can identify the combination of service provider capabilities relevant to their requirements, including data sovereignty, disaster recovery as-a-service, and off-site backup.
According to the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Digital Sovereignty, 2026, “Digital sovereignty is transitioning into a critical board-level imperative, with its urgency escalating as continued geopolitical events increasingly weaponize access to global infrastructure, services and AI. If you lack comprehensive control over your technology stack, a single geopolitical action can terminate your business operations overnight.”
“Across Europe, sovereignty has evolved from a compliance consideration into a strategic business requirement,” said Tim Pfaelzer, General Manager and Senior Vice President, EMEA at Veeam. “As regulation expands and organizations scale AI initiatives, they need greater certainty over where data resides, who can access it and which laws govern its use. Veeam’s technology, combined with the local operating capabilities of trusted service providers, gives customers a practical and defensible route to strengthen data control without sacrificing resilience or recovery.”
“Sovereignty isn’t a checkbox. It is proof of jurisdiction, residency and control, verified end to end,” said Ahsan Khan, Chief Technology Officer, ThinkOn. “This recognition reflects the standard we set in Canada’s most regulated environments, and it is the same discipline guiding how we build for regulated customers across every market we serve.”
Only service providers that meet the competency requirements will qualify. Customers will be able to discover approved providers through Veeam partner profiles that highlight data sovereignty capabilities, regional coverage, and competency status.
The VCSP Data Sovereignty Competency is the first phase of the Veeam Sovereign Service Providers Program. Veeam plans to introduce additional offerings later this year as it continues working with product teams and selected service providers to extend the program. Further details will be announced when those offerings are ready for market.
For more information, visit www.veeam.com.
Gartner, Hype Cycle for Digital Sovereignty, 2026, Gregor Petri, Rene Buest, Nader Henein, Bart Willemsen, 25 June 2026
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About Veeam® Software
Veeam, the Data and AI Trust Company, delivers a unified data and AI trust layer that connects security, governance, privacy, compliance, and resilience, powered by shared intelligence across the entire data estate. Veeam helps organizations establish, operationalize and continuously validate trust in their data so it can be used safely to accelerate AI at scale.
In an agentic era, security starts with data. As the market leader in both data resilience and data security, Veeam helps organizations reduce risk and strengthen control across the full data lifecycle by unifying policy-based access and protection controls, governance workflows, privacy safeguards and compliance reporting with resilience built in. Veeam provides deep contextual intelligence across data and identities, automates governance actions and remediation, and enables precision recovery so organizations can rapidly restore operations with clean, trusted data after ransomware, disasters, insider threats, rogue agents or human error.
Headquartered in Seattle with offices in more than 30 countries, Veeam protects over 550,000 customers worldwide, including 80% of the Fortune 500. Learn more at www.veeam.com or follow Veeam on LinkedIn @veeam-software and X @veeam.
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