AWS plans a European cloud isolation test on Oct. 24

AWS plans a several-hour exercise on October 24, 2026, at its European Sovereign Cloud site in Brandenburg, Germany. The company intends to disconnect the AWS Global Network backbone and disable its controlled system for transferring operational data, while using dedicated internet connections from European providers to maintain access to the worldwide internet. AWS’s announcement describes a scheduled test, not a completed result.

What AWS plans to disconnect

The exercise targets two systems used in ordinary operations. One is the AWS Global Network, the company’s private network backbone. The other is a controlled transfer system for limited operational data, including vetted source-code mirroring and software updates. AWS plans to disconnect the backbone and disable the transfer system for several hours.

The cloud is not meant to lose internet access. AWS plans to use dedicated connections from European internet service providers instead of its private backbone. In day-to-day operation, AWS says, the backbone offers performance, capacity, reliability, security and cost benefits; the exercise is intended to demonstrate operation without that network and the controlled transfer system.

What AWS says customers may notice

AWS does not expect the exercise to affect service availability in the European Sovereign Cloud, other AWS Regions or AWS Direct Connect, its private connectivity service. It warns that some customers may experience brief connectivity interruptions as routes change at the start or end of the exercise. This route convergence is the transition as networks update their routing information, so AWS’s forecast distinguishes a possible short-lived connection issue from an expected interruption to cloud service availability. AWS outlined both expectations in its notice.

The scope of the sovereignty test

The exercise addresses operational independence from two specified systems. It does not answer every question associated with cloud sovereignty: EU-Startups distinguishes this kind of operational test from questions of corporate ownership, legal jurisdiction and customer dependence on AWS. EU-Startups’ account makes that distinction alongside its report on the planned exercise.

AWS says customer content and customer-created metadata remain in the EU. It separately says some operational data may leave the EU during normal operations through the controlled transfer process that the exercise is meant to disable. AWS also says the exercise is designed to produce technical and operational evidence aligned with the objectives of the European Commission’s EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework and Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) C3A criteria.