Cisco has unveiled its new Sovereign Critical Infrastructure offering, aimed at European customers seeking complete control over their data and systems. This portfolio of configurable on-premise solutions is the company’s direct and strategic response to the growing demand for digital sovereignty in Europe.
The US tech giant’s move fits into a wider geopolitical and regulatory context. In an era of legislation such as RODO, the NIS2 directive and concerns about foreign governments’ access to data (e.g. under the US CLOUD Act), European organisations in the public sector and regulated industries – such as finance and healthcare – are actively looking for ways to make their infrastructure independent.
Cisco is adapting its strategy to meet these market and political expectations by offering a product that is designed to minimise external jurisdiction risk.
At the core of the offering is the ability to build fully isolated, localised environments (air-gapped). A key element is the licensing model, which guarantees that Cisco will not have the technical ability to remotely disable systems, leaving full control in the hands of the customer. This is an important declaration in the context of business continuity concerns for critical systems.
The portfolio ranges from network fundamentals such as routing and switches to collaboration and cyber security tools, including integrated solutions from the recently acquired Splunk.
Compliance with European standards, such as Common Criteria, and the pursuit of the new EUCC (European Cybersecurity Certificate) are expected to further build confidence in the local market.
Cisco is targeting the most sensitive and profitable market segments. For the public sector, it means being able to keep key state systems under national jurisdiction. For banks and hospitals, it is a way to ensure compliance with stringent industry regulations.
The company is also positioning itself as a provider of the foundations for Europe’s ‘sovereign AI’, i.e. data centres independent of non-EU technologies. The step is also an acknowledgement that, contrary to the narrative of total cloud dominance, spending on on-premise infrastructure in key sectors remains high.
As market analysts point out, network sovereignty is becoming a key new requirement for critical infrastructure managers, and Cisco’s offering is one of the first such comprehensive responses to this challenge.
