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2H25 Sovereign Cloud Global Market Developments

Rahiel Nasir, Daphne Chung, George Ayad, Teodora Snoddy — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective provides an update on global sovereign cloud developments in 2H25, highlighting accelerated adoption driven by regulatory, security, and data residency needs across regions. Europe leads with new frameworks and vendor initiatives, while Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa (MEA), and North America show rising maturity and strategic investments. This report stresses that true digital sovereignty extends beyond data localization, requiring autonomy, control, and choice. It also urges providers to focus on practical IT risk management rather than marketing-driven narratives.

"Digital sovereignty has become the battleground for control, autonomy, and trust. But with the term 'digital sovereignty' now being increasingly poached by marketeers, its true meaning has become diluted. What is needed is a reset, where organizations view sovereignty more through the lens of managing IT and vendor risk," said Rahiel Nasir, research director, European Cloud Strategies, and lead analyst, Worldwide Digital Sovereignty.

MWC 2026: AI-Native Networks and Infrastructure Convergence

Matthew Eastwood — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

At Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, the industry highlighted a new phase in the evolution of digital infrastructure centered on AI-native networks, distributed edge computing, and the convergence of connectivity and cloud platforms. Vendor and operator announcements showcased AI-enabled radio access networks, telco AI cloud initiatives, 5G-Advanced deployments, early 6G ecosystem collaboration, expanded network APIs, and satellite-terrestrial integration. IDC notes that these developments reflect a broader structural shift: telecommunications networks are evolving from connectivity platforms into distributed compute fabrics capable of supporting real-time AI inference and automation across broad application and data continuums. As AI adoption accelerates, the boundaries between telecom and datacenter infrastructure are increasingly blurring, reshaping how organizations design and deploy AI-enabled digital infrastructure.

IDC Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa Directions 2026: Cloud Predictions and Trends for the Agent Economy

Harish Dunakhe, Manish Ranjan, Jebin George — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation explores how AI, digital sovereignty, and app modernization are redefining cloud strategies in the META region. This presentation was presented at IDC Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa Directions 2026 as part of the Cloud track. It analyzes which workloads, industries, and countries will fuel the next wave of public cloud growth, and how hyperscaler buildout and sovereign cloud models will reshape competitive dynamics. Grounded in IDC survey insights and forecasts through 2029, it delivers actionable guidance to cloud providers on where to double down, how to differentiate, and how to convert AI-driven cloud momentum into lasting business value.

IDC Survey: Cloud Professional Services Usage and Trends in South Africa, 2026

Derrick Chikanga — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey presents the views of CIOs in South Africa and the broader Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa (META) region on cloud professional services and their organizations' related needs for 2026. The document provides high-level insights into organizations' current service requirements and the technical expertise they demand from cloud service providers. Cloud skills shortages and their potential impact on business operations are also highlighted. Furthermore, the study provides recommendations for addressing current market challenges.

The data presented and analyzed in this report are derived primarily from the META portion of IDC's Cloud Survey (September 2025), which was conducted across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The META subsample comprised 590 decision-makers from organizations with more than 100 employees.

IDC's Worldwide Storage and Computing Infrastructure Software Platforms Taxonomy, 2026

Shahin Hashim, Phil Goodwin, Ryan Caskey — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC taxonomy document provides a detailed description of our storage and computing infrastructure software platforms (SCISP) research coverage. It defines the functional markets and submarkets that make up IDC's SCISP program, including core coverage areas of storage software and physical and virtual computing software.

For 2026, this taxonomy introduces the private cloud market as an additional program scope, representing the aggregate market for infrastructure hardware and software used to build and operate dedicated cloud environments. This document defines the three contributing layers of the private cloud market, infrastructure hardware, infrastructure software, and experience/operations/management software, along with the seven qualifying attributes that distinguish private cloud from other deployment models.

Which Hyperscalers Will Enterprises in the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa Choose in 2026? Insights from 11 Markets

George Ayad, Jebin George — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Advanced AI capabilities and localized infrastructure investments from hyperscalers are now the primary drivers of enterprise cloud adoption. These strategic regional commitments are forcing organizations to prioritize partners that can deliver high-performance, AI-ready ecosystems while satisfying local sovereignty mandates.

This IDC Market Presentation offers a fresh perspective on the evolving selection criteria shaping vendor loyalty and cloud road maps across the region. It explores how organizations are navigating the shift from traditional infrastructure to intelligence-driven platforms that support scaled transformation. The study provides comprehensive insights from 11 markets across the Middle East, Turkiye, and Africa (META) region and represents the views of 590 enterprises across a diverse range of industries. These insights are based on the findings of IDC's Europe, Middle East, and Africa Cloud Survey, which was conducted in September 2025.

Worldwide Service Mesh Forecast, 2026–2030

Paul Nicholson, Taranvir Singh, Petr Jirovsky — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation forecasts and analyzes key trends impacting the worldwide service mesh market for 2026–2030.

"As service mesh deployments mature, organizations are evolving with a goal to enhance agility and resource efficiency for microservices-based network architectures and associated requirements for AI." — Paul Nicholson, research vice president, Cloud and Datacenter Networks.

IDC Survey Spotlight: What Industries Are of Primary Focus for Software Providers?

Nadia Ballard — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight presents insights based on IDC’s 2026 SaaS Provider Pulse Survey, where software providers were asked about their focus on customizing their offerings for specific industries. While most vendors pursue horizontal platform strategies to maximize total addressable market, many layer industry-specific capabilities to compete effectively. Most software providers serve a broad range of industries, with a few highly regulated and/or competitive industries among the most frequently targeted markets. A notable subset identifies a single primary industry, underscoring the continued rise of vertical SaaS. IDC discusses the benefits, challenges, and current trends impacting vertical SaaS vendors, including the emergence of vertical AI solutions.

Red Hat announces Red Hat AI Factory with NVIDIA to Optimize AI Application Development and Deployment

Matthew Flug — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Red Hat and NVIDIA introduced Red Hat AI Factory with NVIDIA, a co-engineered service that integrates the Red Hat AI Enterprise with NVIDIA's acceleration stack to enable organizations to build production-grade AI deployments at scale, across any type of deployment environment. The announcement underscores the industry's focus on enabling the secure, cost-effective development of AI applications while maintaining governance and flexibility as enterprises advance toward agentic AI and hybrid cloud adoption.

Vendor Profile: SymphonyAI

Nadia Ballard, Frank Della Rosa — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Vendor Profile examines SymphonyAI, a vertical AI software company that provides domain-trained applications, models, and prebuilt agents for companies worldwide. SymphonyAI offers a mature, proven model for how purpose-built vertical AI platforms can be a viable alternative to the more common approach of starting with AI adoption for the horizontal systems and processes in an organization first.