Silicon Valley cloud giant Box is offering a service upgrade to offset any fallout caused by the Brexit.
The company has launched a new zone that is based entirely in the UK, entailing a primary data centre in London and a secondary backup in Cardiff.
In 2016, Box announced Zones, which serve as additional datacenter hubs outside the US via partnerships with AWS and IBM. At launch, Box Zones were located in Germany, Ireland, Japan, and Singapore, and they were later expanded to other territories, including Canada and Australia.
Box Zone launched in the UK in 2017, with a primary storage location established in London and Frankfurt (Germany) serving as a backup. This is how Box defines its zones — as a pair of primary and secondary (backup) locations, sometimes in the same country, sometimes split between countries.
Now it seems Box is effectively giving the UK standalone status, similar to Canada, Japan, and Australia, with both data centre locations situated in-country. This move can be laid mainly at the doors of Brexit, though last year’s GDPR made it better that data did not leave the isle.
Box’s senior VP and general manager for EMEA, Chris Baker, said that businesses today face a complex and evolving regulatory landscape, none more so than here in Britain.
“With the Brexit decision pending and the impact on regulation such as GDPR unknown, UK and European businesses are searching for ways to guarantee business continuity. The UK zone will help companies to address data sovereignty concerns and provide certainty around their content.”
