Ahead of his participation in techUK’s Digital Transformation from the Edge to the Cloud event, we sit down with Pulsant CTO Mike Hoy to ask him how distributed cloud and edge are reshaping the digital ambitions of UK businesses.
Q: So Mike, what are the main issues firms face in designing/redesigning their digital infrastructure in 2026?
Mike: As data volumes explode, AI workload practicalities bite, and sovereignty mandates accelerate, organisations are rethinking how and where their infrastructure operates.
Increasingly, centralised cloud models are making way for distributed and hybrid approaches. Many firms are moving workloads closer to the edge, investing in regional infrastructure, and prioritising connectivity in their quest for resilience and performance.
Hybrid and distributed architectures that combine public cloud, private environments, and regional data centres spread workloads across multiple locations, reducing the likelihood that a single failure will disrupt entire operations.
Regional colocation facilities play a pivotal role, as by providing physical infrastructure close to users and businesses, they offer the resilience, security, and connectivity required to maintain continuity when disruptions occur.
Industry research corroborates this shift, suggesting that a growing majority of organisations are planning to repatriate some workloads from hyperscale clouds back to regional or private infrastructure within the next two years. The motivation, according to the research, is not to abandon the cloud, but to rebalance it, ensuring that critical systems are not overly dependent on a single provider or location.
Q: How are data sovereignty and repatriation regulations and mandates impacting this shift?
Mike: While it’s not a brand-new concept, data sovereignty is becoming increasingly complex. The cross-border nature of most organisations and their data means that visibility is a very real challenge, with questions such as where data resides, who governs it, and how it is protected becoming central to digital strategy. When data moves across multiple cloud environments and jurisdictions, staying compliant with local regulations can quickly become complex.
Distributed cloud models help address this issue by enabling organisations to keep sensitive data closer to its point of origin. Regional data centres and edge locations allow businesses to balance global reach and local control to meet regulatory requirements.
Q: What about AI? How is distributed computing supporting the acceleration of use cases predicted in the next 12 months?
Mike: Artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly. As hype makes way for real-world use cases and the associated power and processing demands, we’re seeing a shift toward distributed cloud environments.
That’s because Inference AI workloads, which analyse and respond to data in real time, benefit significantly from being located close to where data is generated. By bringing compute resources closer to users, organisations can reduce latency and deliver faster, more responsive AI-driven services, expediting demand for regional data centres which can support high-density workloads.
Looking ahead, the infrastructure supporting AI will become increasingly interconnected. Edge data centres can play an important role in orchestrating this ecosystem, making sure that the performance, capacity, and connectivity required for AI innovation are available in the best way.
Q: Many things in this industry are cyclical but the evidence would suggest that a move towards distributed cloud might be a permanent fixture in the future. Do you agree?
Mike: There’s no question that the digital infrastructure landscape is becoming more complex. New technologies, evolving regulations, and the accelerating pace of AI adoption are creating a fragmented landscape. The shift toward distributed cloud is much more than a technical adjustment. It represents a fundamental change in how organisations think about infrastructure, connectivity, and data ownership. By moving digital capabilities closer to the edge and making use of existing regional infrastructure to help fulfil this looming need, businesses can ensure the resiliency, security and scale necessary to embrace the next generation of digital innovation.