How can managed service providers build more flexible cloud services while maintaining control over their infrastructure and customer data? From reducing vendor dependencies to maintaining control over customer data, the need for more open, flexible, and sovereign infrastructure is becoming increasingly important. These challenges were at the centre of OpenNebula Systems’ breakout session at MSP GLOBAL 2026, “How a Sovereign Virtualization Infrastructure Solution Can Be Beneficial to MSPs,” where our team explored how OpenNebula can help service providers address these demands and build cloud services on their own terms.

The Benefits of Sovereign Virtualization for MSPs

A sovereign virtualization infrastructure gives service providers greater control over their technology stack, infrastructure operations, and customer workloads. By adopting an open alternative to proprietary virtualization platforms, MSPs can reduce vendor lock-in while retaining the flexibility to choose how their environments are deployed and managed.

With OpenNebula, service providers can build multi-tenant cloud environments that combine virtual machines, Kubernetes, bare metal, and GPU resources under a unified management platform. This allows them to expand their service portfolios, address different customer requirements, and scale their infrastructure without becoming dependent on a single vendor ecosystem.

Beyond infrastructure flexibility, sovereignty also means having greater control over where customer data resides, how it is managed, and which technologies support the services being delivered.

Cybersecurity and Data Sovereignty as Growing Priorities 

Cybersecurity and data protection are increasingly shaping infrastructure decisions among MSPs and their customers. Concerns around data exposure, regulatory requirements, and dependence on external providers are driving greater interest in solutions that offer more control over infrastructure and data location.

For European service providers in particular, keeping customer data within Europe and ensuring greater independence over the underlying technology stack are becoming important considerations. Sovereign cloud infrastructure can help address these requirements by giving MSPs control over their operating environments and the policies governing their customers’ workloads.

OpenNebula’s open architecture provides the flexibility to build and operate these environments independently, supporting infrastructure strategies aligned with customers’ security, compliance, and data sovereignty requirements.

Building the Next Generation of Cloud Services

For MSPs looking to differentiate their offerings, OpenNebula provides an open foundation to build and manage independent cloud services. By combining virtualization, Kubernetes, bare metal, and GPU resources within a unified platform, service providers can adapt to changing customer needs while retaining control over their infrastructure and technology choices. 

Looking for an open alternative to VMware? Explore OpenNebula’s solutions for MSPs and discover how to build flexible, sovereign cloud infrastructure.