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Publication Date: 2026-10-07 12:00:00
In just a few years, sovereignty has gone from being an obscure topic to an essential one. Hardware costs are rising. Ambitious AI projects often start in the public cloud. These are all issues that can quickly become headaches when requirements, preferences, or costs change. How do you stay flexible? We discuss this with Jean-Jacques Kroesbergen, Regional Business Lead for the Netherlands at Dell Technologies, and Luc Costers, Regional Sales Director for Benelux at Nutanix.
“A few years ago, there was a major shift toward the public cloud; that trend has completely reversed,” says Kroesbergen. “A great many customers are asking for on-premises solutions. We’ve practically become specialists in that area.” Think of fixed frameworks centered on protecting your most critical data, applications, and processes. “The crown jewels,” as Costers describes them. “It’s fun to start with AI in the public cloud. But over time, it’s those crown jewels, namely, your customers’ data, that become crucial. They must be protected in accordance with GDPR and European regulations, and you don’t want to put that data out in the open.”
Purchasing your own hardware, especially for ambitious AI projects, sounds appealing. However, the prices speak for themselves. But, as Kroesbergen emphasizes: “Ultimately, those hardware costs end up in the public clouds as well, because they’re all based on the same infrastructure.” Many customers who…
