[Na Jeong-ok (나정옥), vice president at Oracle Korea] As data sovereignty and the regulatory environment tighten rapidly, existing public cloud-centric strategies are facing limits. In 2025, Gartner published a report titled "Assessing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for Isolated Private Cloud" and said demand for isolated clouds was structurally expanding. This shows cloud is being redefined as infrastructure directly linked to national security, industrial competitiveness and protection of companies' core assets. The market demand is clear. It is for a cloud environment that can meet both the pace of corporate innovation and requirements for regulation and data sovereignty.

In the past, companies' choices were split between maintaining their own data centres or moving to the public cloud. Now the issue is not the location of infrastructure but the level of control and the way it is connected. Emerging dedicated and isolated cloud models maintain the same service and operating standards as the public cloud, while implementing them in physically or logically separated environments. They preserve cloud's technical characteristics, operational automation and API-based architecture while clearly setting control over data and control domains at the customer or national level. These models are being discussed as realistic alternatives, particularly for defence and intelligence agencies, finance and healthcare, as well as manufacturers holding large-scale intellectual property and countries that strictly restrict cross-border data transfers.

This trend is even clearer in requirements for 'air gap' solutions, a security approach that physically separates networks and blocks external connections. A typical private cloud maintains some level of connection to external networks for management and updates. But some government and defence areas require structures in which external connections are fundamentally blocked. In such cases, private infrastructure can struggle to meet corporate requirements, and an independent cloud that is completely separated physically and logically is needed. A structure permanently disconnected from the external internet, an independent control and data plane, and its own operating and access control systems are similar, in operating philosophy, to security-focused data centres.

At the same time, there are models in which telecom companies or regional operators run their own cloud services. Models such as Oracle's Alloy, where the author works, provide a structure that enables partners to become cloud service providers with their own brands and commercial models based on dedicated infrastructure. This is meaningful in that it enables localisation of cloud governance. In policy environments that define cloud as a national strategic industry or restrict direct entry by overseas operators, such models are emerging as realistic solutions. The fact that regional operators can control billing systems and customers' management authority aligns with the sovereignty debate.

Geopolitical risks and changes in the regulatory environment are adding new conditions to the scalability of cloud models. If data residency, regulatory compliance and minimising latency are key and external management connectivity is allowed, a dedicated private cloud can be a realistic choice. If disconnection from external networks is essential, a fully isolated model is needed. Not all organisations require complete isolation, but for some, the public cloud may be excluded from the options. Ultimately, the key is a strategic judgement suited to each company's circumstances.

The public cloud still functions as core infrastructure driving digital innovation. But amid tightening regulation and discussions of data sovereignty, dedicated cloud and air-gapped cloud solutions are also emerging as options that can reflect data sovereignty and regulatory requirements more precisely. As a result, cloud competitiveness is expanding beyond service portfolios and cost structures to include how to design infrastructure control methods and operating conditions. As more companies seek to review governance factors alongside technical capabilities, the diversity and transparency of dedicated cloud options that can specifically support these needs are also becoming more important.