DEPLOYMENT COMPARISON
Compare control boundaries, not marketing labels.
The comparison is directional. Final controls depend on the selected technologies, infrastructure, contracts, jurisdiction and operating model.
| Dimension | CloudControlled Preview | PrivateCustom Deployment | SovereignCustom Deployment | Air-GappedPlanned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure owner | Approved hosted environment; exact tenancy and ownership verified during assessment. | Dedicated Shofield-managed or customer-controlled environment. | Customer, state or jurisdiction-aligned infrastructure selected per deployment. | Customer-controlled offline infrastructure. |
| Data location | Selected region and provider terms; verified for the chosen architecture. | Specified environment and processing region. | Restricted to verified legal and operational boundaries. | Local to the isolated environment. |
| Model execution | Connected model providers and supported open-weight options, subject to account and region. | Dedicated services, restricted providers or local serving where designed. | Approved open-weight or contractually controlled models, potentially served locally. | Locally hosted open-weight models and local inference only. |
| External APIs | Approved and policy-controlled. | Restricted to approved endpoints. | Restricted or excluded according to the sovereignty design. | None at runtime. |
| Internet connectivity | Internet-connected runtime. | Private networking with controlled egress where required. | Connected, restricted or segmented according to policy. | No direct public-internet or external-cloud connectivity. |
| Update process | Managed update path with deployment gates. | Controlled customer-specific release process. | Customer-governed change and release authority. | Signed offline packages and controlled transfer procedures. |
| Typical use case | Organisations prioritising implementation speed and lower infrastructure burden. | Regulated or strategic workloads needing greater isolation and ownership control. | Governments, regulated institutions and nationally strategic organisations. | Highest-isolation workloads with mature offline operating capability. |
| Relative speed | Fastest relative path | Moderate | Longer, procurement-dependent | Longest and most specialised |
SECURE AI DEPLOYMENT ASSESSMENT
Select the edition only after the workload and consequence are clear.
Define the workflow, architecture, controls, economics, acceptance criteria and 90-day production route before committing to implementation.