NoCloud

NoCloud is a term used to describe approaches that minimize or eliminate reliance on public cloud services. It encompasses on-premises data centers, private clouds, edge computing, and offline-first architectures. The concept is often invoked in discussions of data sovereignty, privacy, security, and cost control.

Common implementations include private cloud platforms (such as OpenStack or VMware-based environments), traditional on-site storage and compute, edge servers for local processing, and software architectures that prefer local data persistence with asynchronous replication to centralized systems.

NoCloud strategies can reduce exposure to external threats and regulatory risks but may increase capital and operational expenses and require specialized expertise. They may also limit scalability and rapid experimentation compared with public cloud services, and some workloads benefit from cloud-native services and elasticity.

In policy discussions and vendor rhetoric, NoCloud is often cited as a privacy- or sovereignty-centric approach. It is not a formal standard or certification, and implementations vary widely by organization and use case.