Did you know that supermarket heavyweight Lidl not only sells an extensive selection of unusual ‘middle-aisle’ items, but also has a successful cloud computing business? While some savvy European telcos have also been embracing the sovereign cloud market, Lidl’s success in this space should be a reminder to more operators to seize these opportunities for themselves. Middle-aisle inflatable canoe anyone? Lidl built its own cloud services for internal use in 2021 and began to offer cloud computing and cyber security services via its IT unit called Schwarz Digits from 2023. Clients include German software giant SAP, football club Bayern Munich, and the port of Hamburg. “We did not start with a commercial motivation in mind but just wanted to address…