Thales and Google Cloud are teaming up to launch a sovereign cloud offering based in Germany.

The cloud solution will be launched by Thales as a new German entity that is legally and operationally independent from Google Cloud.

It is currently available in preview, with a general rollout expected by the end of the year. Thales will fully own and operate the cloud infrastructure, which will be located in Germany.

The new entity will be staffed and managed by local German employees, which will mean that no third-party or non-European entity will be able to access the data stored or processed.

The collaboration follows a similar tie-up between Google and Thales in France, which saw the establishment of Thales' cloud subsidiary S3NS.

“Germany represents a critical market for sovereign technologies, and this partnership is a direct response to private and public sector German organizations wanting access to Google Cloud’s technology under full German control. By launching this locally operated infrastructure, we are delivering a solution that guarantees sensitive workloads remain protected from any extraterritorial reach while meeting the unique security and compliance requirements of our customers,” said Christoph Ruffner, CEO and country director of Thales in Germany.

Marianne Janik, vice president, EMEA North, at Google Cloud, added: "Our partnership with Thales in Germany represents a significant milestone in our commitment to digital sovereignty in Germany and Europe. By combining the power and scale of Google Cloud with Thales’ deep expertise in cybersecurity and local operational control, we are enabling German organizations even in the most sensitive sectors to innovate with confidence, while meeting the specific legal and operational safeguards required by the local regulatory landscape."

According to the companies, the German unit will be technologically and operationally identical to the offering from S3NS in France, and will also serve as a disaster recovery location for customers already using the France region, and vice versa.

Already in Germany, Google has worked with Deutsche Telekom to create a German Sovereign Cloud that provides Google Cloud services from infrastructure managed by T-Systems.

Thales typically focuses on defense, aerospace, and cyber & digital sectors. Its German company is headquartered in Ditzingen. Details about its data center footprint in the country have not been provided.