NetApp eyes data sovereignty gains with new 'Keystone Sovereign' service

NetApp has announced a sweeping update to its Keystone storage as a service (STaaS) offering aimed at bolstering data sovereignty capabilities.

The Keystone Sovereign service, which was unveiled at the company’s 2026 NetApp Insight conference, marks a significant expansion of its STaaS setup.

Customers can now choose where they want storage hardware deployed, both in geographic terms and their desired configuration – be that through an on-premises approach or in a co-location facility.

Ivan Iannaccone, VP and GM for Keystone, said the move is a direct response to growing enterprise demand for sovereignty controls, particularly in Europe.

“Sovereignty isn’t just about control of your data, but is [also about] operational control,” Iannaccone said. “You want to know who has access to telemetry data, who has access to the operations."

NetApp offers “full operational control”

According to Iannaccone, the new Keystone service will provide users with “full operational control” over data. Metadata, for example, will be run on a sovereign European cloud hosted by the storage giant.

Customer support, meanwhile, will also be operated entirely in-region across Europe.

Roll-out of Keystone Sovereign will start in the European Economic Area (EEA) on a country-by-country basis, with deployments in Germany and France among the first.

Iannaccone told ITPro this initial roll-out also applies to UK customers, while services in other global regions are expected soon.

“I’m pretty convinced that we can do a fast follow-up in the rest of the world,” he said. “Right now, where we’re seeing the concentrated demand, sovereign cloud spend is going to be around $30 billion next year.”

“That's significant,” Iannaccone added. “We see some of these trends in other countries in APAC. I think Japan, Korea are the two main ones, but we’ll fast follow that, probably in 2027.”

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