Microsoft today announced plans to deliver the Microsoft Cloud, including Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online from two new datacenter regions, located in Magdeburg and Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
“Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every individual on the planet to achieve more,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer, Microsoft.
“Our new datacenter regions in Germany, operated in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, will not only spur local innovation and growth, but offer customers choice and trust in how their data is handled and where it is stored.”
These new datacenters will adhere to the same security, service and quality standards as all Microsoft datacenters. The services offered will abide by the Microsoft trusted cloud principles of security, privacy, control, compliance and transparency, as well as consistency with Microsoft’s global cloud services.
“This will help us meet growing demand for Microsoft cloud services in Germany, and across Europe, by providing an innovative, scalable and consistent cloud computing platform combined with a German data trustee model,” explained Alex Stuger, Area Vice President for Microsoft Germany.
According to the BITKOM study “Cloud Monitor 2015,” 83 percent of all German enterprises expect their cloud provider to operate local datacenters in Germany.
A unique innovation in customer trust and data control
These new cloud services will be a first of their kind innovation from a global hyper-scale cloud provider, in that access to customer data stored in these new datacenters will be under the control of T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, an independent German company acting as a data trustee. Microsoft will not be able to access this data without the permission of customers or the data trustee, and if permission is granted by the data trustee, will only do so under its supervision. “Microsoft is pioneering a new, unique, solution for customers in Germany and Europe. Now, customers who want local control of their data combined with Microsoft’s cloud services have a new option, and I anticipate it will be rapidly adopted,” says Timotheus Hottges, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Telekom AG.
Meeting compliance requirements efficiently and reliably
Microsoft’s Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online cloud services in Germany will specifically address organizations and enterprises operating in data-sensitive areas such as the public, financial or health sector. “Microsoft’s latest offering addresses companies who need to comply with the most stringent privacy regulations. It now enables us and our customers to scale and to successfully implement new business models even broader,” explains Dr. Arthur Kaindl, General Manager Digital Health Services at Siemens Healthcare. These locally deployed versions of Microsoft’s commercial cloud services adhere to German data handling regulations and customers will be able to view how and where data is processed. Two datacenter regions in Germany ensure business continuity and will be exchanged through a private network to ensure data resides in Germany.
The datacenter regions will be located in Magdeburg and Frankfurt am Main and all datacenters will provide consistent service levels and security standards as Microsoft’s global cloud offerings, including multi-factor authentication with biometric scanning and smart cards, data encryption by SSL/TLS protocols based on German certificates, physical security controls, and protection against natural disasters and power outages.
Availability of services is anticipated to begin in the second half of the year 2016. Services will be available to customers in Germany, the EU and the EFTA.
This news follows yesterday’s announcement from Microsoft which included plans to deliver cloud services from datacenters in the United Kingdom and the completed expansion of existing datacenter facilities in Ireland and the Netherlands.
