The request usually starts in the business: we want the AI assistant everyone is talking about. Then it reaches compliance, and the answer comes back just as quickly: our content does not leave our data centre. The platform team ends up in the middle, with an on-premises OpenText estate, a data residency policy and a reasonable question nobody can quite answer. Can we use OpenText Content Aviator without moving our content to the cloud?
Today the answer is yes. This article explains how the options have developed, what OpenText's off-cloud deployment involves, and what to get ready on your own estate first.
What Content Aviator is
Content Aviator is OpenText's AI content assistant for OpenText Content Management. OpenText describes it as answering conversational questions by distilling content into summaries based on a user's permissions. From release 26.2 it can also act on content, for example by generating documents from templates or carrying out records actions.
How the on-premises options have developed
The deployment options have moved quickly. In OpenText's own release history:
- CE 24.3 (July 2024): customers running Content Management CE 24.1 or later on premises could use Content Aviator through the OpenText Content Cloud in a hybrid configuration. No content had to be migrated, but Aviator related data and AI queries used the cloud.
- CE 25.4 (announced October 2025): a new off-cloud option. Customers could deploy Content Aviator in their own data centre alongside OpenText Aviator Model Services, using a fully packaged, production ready installer with a Meta large language model.
- CE 26.1 (March 2026): Content Management CE 26.1 introduced off-cloud deployment support for Content Aviator, and off-cloud deployments of Content Aviator 26.1 can connect to a hyperscaler-hosted model, which OpenText positions as combining control of the environment with the efficiency of a hosted model.
- 26.2 (June 2026): the first agentic capabilities in Content Aviator.
Put simply, an on-premises estate can now run Content Aviator off-cloud, with the content staying where it is.
Why this matters for regulated organisations
OpenText positions the off-cloud option for organisations that need to meet data residency, sovereignty and compliance requirements, including highly regulated environments. For a public body, a financial services firm or a life sciences company, that can be the difference between AI being off the table and AI being something you can plan for properly.
What off-cloud does not change
Running Content Aviator next to your estate puts more weight on the estate, not less. Four things deserve attention before you switch it on:
- Permissions. Answers are based on what each user is allowed to see. If permissions have drifted over the years, the assistant will reflect that drift faithfully. A permissions review on the areas Aviator will reach is worth doing first.
- Metadata and structure. Well kept categories and attributes help, and from 26.2 Aviator can read and update them. Know who owns your metadata model.
- Infrastructure. An off-cloud deployment adds components to run, patch, monitor and back up alongside Content Server. Decide who looks after them before go live, not after.
- Version. The off-cloud options arrived with recent releases, so an estate on an older version will usually need to upgrade first. Check the release notes and installation guide for your target version, and see our plain English guide to Content Server 26.2.
Agentic features need a named owner
With 26.2, Content Aviator can move, copy, rename and delete objects, update categories and attributes, and place documents on hold on request. That is genuinely useful, and it means the assistant needs the same governance as a person with those rights: reviewed permissions, logged actions and someone accountable for what it may do. Our page on preparing for Content Management 26.2 sets out the checks we would make.
A short readiness checklist
- Confirm your Content Server version and patch level, and the version your chosen deployment option requires.
- Review permissions on the workspaces and folders Aviator will reach.
- Name the business owner for metadata and for any records actions the assistant may take.
- Agree where the model will run: Aviator Model Services in your own data centre, or a hyperscaler-hosted model.
- Plan monitoring, patching and backup for the new components, and who is on call for them.
- Pilot on a defined set of workspaces before widening access.
Several of these overlap with the 15 OpenText estate health checks, which are a sensible baseline before any significant change.
Talk it through with Nuca
Nuca runs live OpenText estates: the platform, the database underneath and the business administration layer, under one SLA. If you are considering Content Aviator on premises and want a clear view of whether your estate is ready for it, book a free 45-minute continuity check call. You describe the estate; we tell you what would need attention first. If it is ready, we say so.
Sources
- OpenText Blogs, What's new in OpenText Content Aviator (20 July 2026), CE 24.3 hybrid option, CE 25.4 off-cloud with Aviator Model Services and Meta LLM, 26.1 hyperscaler-hosted model for off-cloud: blogs.opentext.com
- OpenText Blogs, What's new in OpenText Content Management (24 June 2026), CE 26.1 off-cloud deployment support, 26.2 agentic capabilities, CE 24.1 permissions-based answers: blogs.opentext.com
- OpenText Blogs, Bringing trusted AI into the Content Cloud (10 October 2025), CE 25.4 off-cloud announcement, sovereignty, residency and compliance: blogs.opentext.com
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