New GitHub rules mean users can store code and repository data in the EU

GitHub has unveiled a data residency feature for its Enterprise Cloud service that will allow users to control what regions their code is stored in.

The feature will be generally available in the European Union (EU) from October 29 to begin with, and GitHub confirmed the option will be made available to users in Australia, Asia, and Latin America in due course.

In the same way that many firms are now offering regional sovereign cloud choices for the storage and location of data, GitHub’s new offering will allow users to choose where code and repository data are stored.

Customers will also be given “enhanced user control,” allowing organizational management and control of different accounts as well as unique company-specific namespaces and increased availability for “zone-based” continuity and disaster recovery.

The move will help enterprise users fulfill security and compliance requirements, GitHub said, by handing over a greater level of control to code owners and developers.

"In light of the mounting importance of data residency needs, there is a clear desire for organizations to have more control over where their most valuable asset, their code, is stored,” GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke said.

"The timing is crucial as organizations in the EU and across the world are racing to empower their software developers with AI at every step to get ahead and win in the global market,” he added.

GitHub’s move appears to have struck a similar chord with customers, with the firm including positive comments from some big-name users.

One such example was from Alexander Hanl, Product Manager for CI/CD environment at CARIAD, who noted that ensuring data is predominantly hosted in Europe was a priority for his company.

“By bringing data residency to GitHub Enterprise Cloud, we now have a valuable solution that aligns with our needs, marking a crucial first step in our plan to reduce our self-hosting efforts and empower our developers to build, deploy, and collaborate from the cloud as well,” Hanl said.

Data sovereignty is a hot topic

GitHub’s move towards code sovereignty comes after a year in which Microsoft, AWS, Oracle, and Rackspace all launched sovereign cloud services for regional data processing.

Microsoft did so in Europe to a customer base hungry for the change, with the move described as “a long time coming” by analysts. Mark Boost, CEO of Civo, told ITPro at the time that enterprise “data should have always been sovereign.”

Oracle has been more proactive in its push for sovereignty, with the firm’s executives touting the demand for sovereign cloud as well as Oracle’s well-placed position to provide for it at the firm’s recent Oracle CloudWorld 2024.

After AWS announced its €7.8 billion investment into AWS European Sovereign Cloud, experts told ITPro sovereign cloud offerings have become the “bare minimum” for businesses if they want to stay relevant.