Microsoft scales up Azure Local to a sovereign cloud, or does it?

Microsoft is expanding Azure Local into Microsoft Sovereign Private Cloud, a larger on-premises option for governments and regulated industries.

The setup can run on customer-owned hardware across thousands of servers, with offline support, disaggregated compute and storage, SAN integration, and local identity features.

Microsoft says customers include Kadaster, AT&T, and FiberCop, with hardware support from Dell, HPE, Lenovo, NetApp, and Intel-based systems.

The tradeoff: it offers tighter control and sovereignty, but still excludes some Azure services and requires specific hardware.