eXate

Last week we shared the news: eXate and IBM Sovereign Core have a validated pattern for Sovereign Boundary Control. Since then we've had a lot of questions about how it actually works, so here's the detail behind the headline. Sovereign infrastructure tells you where your data sits. It doesn't tell you whether that data is allowed to move. IBM Sovereign Core and eXate solve different halves of the same problem: one controls the environment, the other governs the data moving through it. This pattern brings the two together under one tested model instead of two separate efforts. It starts with geo-aware data tagging: classifying data by origin, sensitivity and jurisdiction as it's created or ingested. From there, context-aware entitlements decide whether a crossing is permitted, across four patterns that show up again and again: sovereign to non-sovereign, non-sovereign to sovereign, sovereign to sovereign, and within a sovereign boundary itself. It's a distinction that matters even more as sovereign AI scales. Every model is downstream of the data it's given. If that data was allowed to move somewhere it shouldn't have, the model inherits the exposure silently. Full breakdown here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eFhVmk7N eXate is also available directly through the IBM Sovereign Core catalog. If you're evaluating how to govern data movement across sovereign boundaries, we'd welcome the conversation.

Thanks for sharing this, Sachin Prasad. The next chapter of digital sovereignty won’t be defined simply by where data resides, but by whether organisations can maintain control over data as it moves. As AI becomes increasingly distributed across jurisdictions, clouds and partner ecosystems, the ability to apply policy, governance and accountability across those boundaries becomes just as important as the location of the data itself. That’s why we’re excited to be working with Sachin and the entire IBM Sovereign Core team. Together, we’re addressing a critical challenge for the AI era: how organisations can enable data to move where it needs to go, while retaining the controls and sovereignty they need. Sovereignty shouldn’t be about creating barriers to data movement. It should be about maintaining authority, control and accountability wherever data goes.

Data sovereignty is evolving. It is now moving from where data sits to how data is governed. Today, we’re proud to announce that eXate is collaborating with IBM to help organisations govern data across sovereign boundaries. Together, IBM Sovereign Core and eXate bring infrastructure sovereignty and data-level governance together, helping organisations understand where data can move, who can access it, and under what conditions. This is an important shift in the sovereignty conversation. It’s no longer enough to ask “Where is my data?” We need to ask: “Who controls it, where can it go, and can we prove it?” As AI and cross-border data use accelerate, that distinction will become increasingly important. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/ezf3gHVb

Every AI and cloud programme creates new data exposure points. Our partnership with Mastek helps leaders across BFSI, Healthcare, Retail and the Public Sector innovate without inheriting unmanaged risk. Together, we’re embedding policy-based control into transformation, supporting PCI DSS, GDPR, CCPA, the EU AI Act, India’s DPDPA, Data Sovereignty requirements and more. You don’t need another reason to slow down AI. You need AI built to your standard of control. Read more about the partnership: https://lnkd.in/dfwWMKJS

In banking, data security cannot be treated as a choice between protection and performance. Sensitive information moves through complex systems, teams and jurisdictions every day. The strongest approach is not to lock data away, but to make protection intelligent. That is the thinking behind Aquila Fort, created through the partnership between Aqua Global and eXate. The solution combines field-level encryption, dynamic masking and role-based access controls to help banks protect sensitive data, support compliance and maintain operational performance. Explore Aquila Fort 👇

Enforce Data Sovereignty at the Point of Ingestion with eXate + IBM Power11 Operating across multiple jurisdictions means navigating conflicting privacy laws, cross-border exposure risks, and the constant pressure to innovate without compromising compliance. eXate embeds centralised policy controls directly into data pipelines, combining real-time masking, tokenization, and jurisdiction-aware routing with quantum-safe encryption on IBM Power11. The result: your data stays yours, no matter where it flows. Join the upcoming webcast for some exciting updates from IBM Power and learn how the platform can help you turn data sovereignty from a compliance burden into a competitive advantage. 📅 July 16 | 9:00 AM EDT  👉 Register now: https://ibm.biz/~C0oMDg7sF

Some of the most valuable conversations happen away from the conference stage. Peter Lancos recently caught up with Jonathan Naismith, eXate's very first employee, to reflect on how far the industry has come and where it is heading next. He also met with our partners at NTT DATA, Inc., including Bernard Dykes, Stuart Dee, Nina B. and Kayleigh Rushe, to discuss the challenges organisations are increasingly facing as AI adoption accelerates. Three themes consistently emerged: 👉Sovereign Agentic AI – enabling organisations to adopt Agentic AI without exposing sensitive data or losing control of how it is used. 👉 Data Classification – understanding what sensitive data exists, where it resides and how it should be protected. 👉Data Sovereignty – ensuring organisations retain control over sensitive data wherever it moves across cloud, hybrid and AI environments. These are no longer separate initiatives. They are becoming fundamental building blocks for secure digital transformation and responsible AI adoption.

The payments industry isn't asking whether to modernise anymore. It's asking how to do it securely. That was one of the biggest themes emerging from conversations at ACI Worldwide's Payments Unleashed EMEA. As payment architectures continue to evolve, organisations are balancing innovation with increasingly complex security and regulatory requirements. Modern payment ecosystems now span legacy transaction systems, cloud native services, APIs, AI and partner networks. While these technologies accelerate innovation, they also increase the challenge of applying consistent security and governance across every environment. At eXate, we believe modernisation shouldn't create new security boundaries. Instead, data protection should remain consistent wherever payment data is processed, shared or analysed, with policy following the data rather than the underlying infrastructure. That's how organisations can embrace AI, OpenShift, cloud and hybrid architectures while maintaining the controls needed for PCI DSS, data sovereignty and regulatory compliance. Photos 📸: Angelo Fazio, R Anthony Davis, Leda Glyptis PhD, Thomas Warsop, Sonal Rattan, Peter Lancos

How do organisations embrace AI, automation, and cloud transformation without losing control of their data? That question was at the heart of many discussions at the IBM Hursley Park Summit 2026, spanning AI, application modernisation, integration, security, and observability. As enterprises accelerate adoption of AI agents, cloud-native applications, and connected ecosystems, success will increasingly depend on the ability to govern how sensitive data is accessed, shared, and used in real time. At eXate, we're helping organisations build that foundation through policy-driven controls for AI, data sovereignty, privacy, and security. And there couldn't have been a more fitting setting for those conversations than Hursley Park itself, a site with decades of history at the forefront of enterprise technology and software development.

What does the future of business technology actually look like? That was the question at the heart of Mirai '26', hosted by NTT DATA, Inc., where leaders from across industries came together to explore emerging technologies and the decisions organisations need to make next. For eXate, many of those conversations centred around data sovereignty, AI governance, secure test data, and the growing need to protect sensitive information across non-production environments. As organisations accelerate AI adoption, data privacy can no longer be treated as a compliance exercise. It needs to be embedded into the way data is accessed, shared, developed, tested, and governed from the outset. Tags in Photos 📸: Sonal Rattan, Rakhee Ojah-Maharaj, Tom Winstanley and Rob Webb