The "digital fortress" that once defined enterprise data security is giving way to a new imperative: unified control. As AI workloads multiply, regulations tighten and data scatters across hybrid multicloud environments, IT leaders from Nutanix and Deutsche Telekom argue the only way to protect sensitive information is to stop managing from fragmented cockpits and start flying the plane from one.
"When you host your own data and manage your own infrastructure, the entire responsibility is on you," wrote Daryush Ashjari, vice president of Solutions Engineering for APJ at Nutanix, in a May 2026 blog post.
"When you take your infrastructure to the public cloud, the shared responsibility model raises its ugly head."
In the era of hybrid multicloud, enterprises innovate and adapt quickly, but Ashjari believes many unintentionally create what some call "fragmented realities." To adapt, he argues, organizations must shift from the fortress mindset to a "unified control" strategy.
The numbers behind that shift are stark. Eighty percent of respondents to Nutanix's 2026 Enterprise Cloud Index Survey call data sovereignty a high priority when making infrastructure decisions, and more than half feel the need to run their infrastructure within a single country.
Hybrid cloud remains the dominant architecture, with 73% of organizations operating hybrid estates, according to Flexera's 2026 State of the Cloud report. Yet 89% of enterprises use two or more cloud providers, and only 34% have achieved unified governance across them, according to Halkwinds Research.
The data reveals a gap between adoption and mastery. That's where sovereignty breaks down.
Why Data Sovereignty is Redefining Enterprise AI
The AI boom complicates everything. IT leaders are eager to leverage large language models (LLMs), but many lack the massive compute infrastructure to train or run them in their own data centers. Industry analysts say enterprises that turn to cloud or neocloud services risk sharing the proprietary data nestled inside their systems. That data is a valuable, differentiating business asset.
Building isolated infrastructure is not always viable, according to Andreas Eisenreich, chief technology officer for Cloud and Infrastructure at Deutsche Telekom. Working with trusted partners is often the best path forward.
"If you go into your basement and do your own stuff, it will work for a while," he told The Forecast in a 2026 interview. "Then someone will find something that can help your business and you're not able to follow up on that on your own. That is why strong partnerships are still key."
When working with IT vendors, it’s important to be thorough and understand how they operate worldwide. Ashjari wrote that the supply chain has become part of the data sovereignty landscape, he wrote, advising organizations to evolve their data controls.
Eisenreich put a finer point on it.
"Data sovereignty isn't just about where your data lives," he said. "It's about whether you can actually use it without a vendor's permission."
That distinction matters more as regulation tightens and vendor lock-in spreads. Seventy-one percent of executives say switching their primary AI vendor or model would be difficult, and 68% say meeting data residency and sovereignty requirements across geographies is challenging, according to a 2026 IBM Institute for Business Value study. The EU AI Act's high-risk system requirements become enforceable in August 2026, with penalties reaching 7% of global annual turnover. Sovereign cloud spending will hit $80 billion in 2026, a 35.6% jump from the year before, according to Gartner.
For the first time, data sovereignty and residency requirements have overtaken jurisdiction-specific compliance as the leading geopolitical factor influencing infrastructure decisions, cited by 54% of IT leaders in Broadcom's Private Cloud Outlook 2026 report.
Managing Data Sovereignty Going Forward
Managing data across hybrid, multicloud and edge environments today is unprecedented. Ashjari compares it to piloting an airplane with 10 different cockpits, each with its own instruments, its own manual and its own problems. Organizations moving between cockpits struggle to read the speed of one plane while checking the fuel gauge of another.
Add to that nascent AI projects that resemble science experiments, led by teams focused on their immediate needs rather than IT governance.
"If you only focus on a checklist to be compliant against your requirement, failure is imminent," Ashjari wrote.
These experiments frequently move to production without a proper data sovereignty plan. By the time an organization realizes it has violated regional residency laws, it is often too late. The approach to compliance must evolve, and 2026 is the inflection point.
Enterprises with one central cockpit — a "unified control plane" — have a single holistic view of the entire flight plan. That helps track data as it flies in-house, in a public cloud or at the edge. A unified architecture can provide visibility over where data is created, who has access to it and its entire lifecycle. It can help standardize governance by decoupling the management layer from the underlying hardware, and organizations can enforce security policies centrally.
The most mature security posture today assumes a breach is inevitable.
"Stop this notion of 'I can build a fortress and no one's gonna come in, I'm fully compliant,'" Ashjari wrote. "Change that mindset. Know the bad actors are already in, and ask: 'Did I protect the crown jewels of my data appropriately?'"
Both experts agree that enterprises treating data sovereignty not as a compliance checkbox but as the operating system for everything they build will be better positioned for what's ahead. The fortress is finished. The cockpit is where the future flies.
Strategic Recommendations
Digital sovereignty is about protecting the enterprise. As communication technologies evolve, the volume and velocity of data will only increase. Experts advise enterprises to change how they initiate projects going forward.
"Go in with your eyes wide open, and put the data sovereignty, data control, data visibility and data protection at the front of these conversations, rather than later," Ashjari wrote.
For enterprises preparing for the shifts ahead, the experts point to a clear flight plan:
Audit the cockpit count: Map every environment where data lives, from on-premises to public cloud to edge, and identify where governance breaks down.
Assume the breach: Replace the fortress mentality with a posture that treats intruders as inevitable and focuses on protecting the crown jewels.
Bring sovereignty to the kickoff: Embed data control, visibility and residency requirements into project conversations from day one, not after production.
Govern the supply chain: Treat every IT service provider and partner as part of the sovereignty landscape and evolve data controls accordingly.
Choose partners over isolation: Build trusted partnerships rather than retreating to a basement that cannot keep pace with innovation.
Insights from both experts align: having a robust data strategy is critical. That strategy requires continuous improvement to safely fly the plane into the future.
Related:
Shaping Data Sovereignty Strategies that Scale
A Gateway to Control AI Traffic and Thwart Agentic Threats
Unknowns and Risk Intensify with AI
IT Teams Design for Geopatriation and Data Sovereignty
What IT Sovereignty Really Means: Beyond Data Location
Data Sovereignty Drives Enterprise IT Decisions
ECI 2026 Report Shows Strain Between AI Innovation and IT Governance
Jack Gibson is a contributing writer for The Forecast by Nutanix. (Jack Gibson is a Corporate Communications Intern at Nutanix. And a rising senior at Loyola Marymount University studying Marketing. Find him on LinkedIn.)
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