Key facts
| Sovereignty criteria | Data residency, model control, operational sovereignty and compliance alignment |
| Deployment models | Plugsky cloud region, VPC/private endpoint, on-prem and fully air-gapped |
| Air-gapped mode | No internet egress, local model registry and offline update channels |
| Key custody | BYOK via AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or on-prem HSM |
| Audit | Per-request logs with region; SIEM export; retention up to 7 years |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II under NDA, ISO 27001, HIPAA with BAA; FedRAMP Moderate in process |
| API compatibility | OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat/completions; change the base URL |
| Local presence | No Medina office or facility claimed; sovereignty is delivered by deployment model |
TL;DR
- Plugsky claims no Medina facility; control comes from the deployment topology.
- Sovereignty covers data, models, operations and compliance — not just server location.
- Deploy in a pinned cloud region, your VPC, your data centre or an air-gapped site.
- Air-gapped sites run with no internet egress and offline update channels.
- BYOK through your KMS or HSM, plus per-request audit logs for review.
How it works, step by step
- Map your Medina data flows and define the required residency boundary.
- Choose region-locked cloud, a private VPC endpoint, on-prem or air-gapped deployment.
- Choose between managed KMS and an on-prem HSM for key custody.
- Design offline update and model-approval processes for air-gapped sites.
- Test audit log fields, SIEM export and retention against your policy.
- Run one workload as a pilot and collect the evidence procurement needs.
- Move to production once controls are signed off.
Original data
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Why Medina organisations need sovereign deployment
Medina is home to Al-Masjid an-Nabawi and is a major centre of pilgrimage, Islamic learning and date agriculture in Saudi Arabia's Hejaz region. The institutions that serve pilgrims and residents need AI that keeps personal data inside the Kingdom.
For Medina organisations in hospitality, education and agriculture, the driver is control: AI that meets data residency, model control, operational sovereignty and compliance at the same time. A storage-region promise alone does not clear that bar.
That means prompts, completions, embeddings, fine-tuned models and logs remain inside your legal jurisdiction and physical perimeter, with local administrators able to run, patch and audit the stack themselves. Plugsky publishes no Medina facility; sovereign deployments are delivered as cloud regions, private environments or customer-owned infrastructure — see the data-residency overview for the current region list.
Sovereign deployment options for Medina
Plugsky ships four deployment patterns for sovereign programmes:
- Region-locked cloud: a pinned data plane in the region you select; the current region list is published at /data-residency.
- VPC or private endpoint: the control plane inside your AWS, Azure or GCP account with no public ingress.
- On-prem: open-weight models on hardware you own, with local operations and patching.
- Air-gapped: no internet egress, a local model registry and offline update channels for defence, government and critical infrastructure.
BYOK keeps encryption keys with you — AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or an on-prem HSM — while per-request audit logs record model, tokens, latency, user and region and export to your SIEM, retaining data for up to 7 years.
Evidence and audit for sovereign AI
Procurement and security teams can review documented programs rather than assurances: SOC 2 Type II under NDA, ISO 27001, HIPAA with a BAA, and GDPR/PDPL alignment. FedRAMP Moderate is in process, so treat it as pending. Enterprise contracts add a DPA with EU SCCs, sub-processor terms, right-to-audit clauses and custom SLAs.
For Saudi Arabia-linked programmes, request the current evidence pack and sub-processor list; data-protection expectations vary by sector and regulator.
From pilot to air-gapped production
Start with one workload and a written definition of the sovereignty criteria that apply. Choose the deployment topology — cloud region, private cloud, on-prem or air-gapped — settle key custody, design offline update and model-approval workflows for air-gapped sites, then validate audit fields, SIEM export and retention against policy.
Run the pilot, collect the evidence procurement needs, then move to production once controls are signed off. The API stays OpenAI-compatible and one key reaches 30+ models, so existing SDK code, prompts and evaluations carry over. New accounts start on the free plan with plugsky-micro and plugsky-lite, and a 14-day full-access trial covers higher tiers; see the live pricing page for current plans.
Honest comparison
| Capability | Plugsky | Typical public-cloud provider | Building in-house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty scope | Data, model, operations and compliance covered | Usually data location only | You must build and prove all four |
| Deployment models | Cloud region, VPC, on-prem, air-gapped | Shared public cloud only | Your own infrastructure only |
| Air-gapped mode | No internet egress, offline updates | Not offered | Custom engineering effort |
| Key custody | BYOK via KMS or on-prem HSM | Provider-managed keys | You operate the HSMs |
| Audit | Per-request logs with region; SIEM export; up to 7 years | Often limited retention | You build the pipeline |
| Local presence in Medina | No facility claimed; sovereignty is deployment-based | Varies by provider | Depends on your own sites |
Frequently asked questions
Does Plugsky have a facility in Medina?
No. Plugsky does not claim an office or data centre in Medina; sovereign deployments are delivered as cloud regions, private environments or customer-owned infrastructure. See /data-residency for the current region list.
Who holds the encryption keys?
You can. BYOK is supported through AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or an on-prem HSM, with per-region envelope encryption for data at rest.
What compliance evidence can we review?
SOC 2 Type II under NDA, ISO 27001/27017/27018 and HIPAA with a BAA; FedRAMP Moderate is in process. Enterprise contracts add a DPA with EU SCCs, sub-processor terms and right-to-audit clauses.
Can we keep using the OpenAI SDK?
Yes. The API is OpenAI-compatible, so you change the base URL and model name and keep your existing SDK, prompts and evaluations.
How do we start a sovereign pilot?
Pick one workload, define the sovereignty criteria in writing, choose the deployment topology and key custody, then run the pilot and collect the evidence procurement needs. Teams in Medina typically start on the free plan and use the 14-day full-access trial for larger models.
Which capabilities are live today?
Chat, streaming, JSON mode, function calling, embeddings, RAG and agents are live. Audio, images, moderation, files, batch, fine-tuning, assistants and responses are coming soon — check the docs before planning those workloads.
Would our data be used to train models?
No — prompts are not used to train models. For strict requirements, use a private, on-prem or air-gapped deployment so data stays inside the contracted environment.
How is pricing structured?
Self-serve plans are flat monthly with unlimited fair-use usage and no per-token billing. See the live pricing page for current plans and fair-use limits.