Computer: Microsoft promises fair competition for cloud services – digital

Brussels/Redmond – Microsoft is reaching out to European cloud providers after competition complaints. Among other things, it should be easier for them to host Microsoft’s cloud offerings, such as Office 365 Office software applications, in their own data centers.

Customers in Europe should also have more flexibility in licensing terms, Microsoft announced on Wednesday.

The changes come after a complaint from European cloud service provider OVH to the European Union Commission in Brussels. OVH felt deprived of licensing terms, because it made it cheaper to run Microsoft services using the Azure cluster cloud platform than it was to run other service providers’ infrastructure. The procedures apply exclusively to European cloud providers – and do not expressly apply to Microsoft’s big cloud competitors Amazon and Google.

Cispe (European Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers) is not working far enough with Microsoft. Cispe Secretary General Francisco Minjurans criticized the initiative, “not helping to end the anti-competitive bundling of productivity software with cloud infrastructure services.” He therefore called on the European Union Commission to continue its investigations on behalf of European cloud customers.

At the same time, Microsoft Director Brad Smith confirmed that the measures announced on Wednesday will not be the last steps.