Microsoft Azure, Office 365 & Dynamics to be Offered from German Data Centers
Remember the great debate about whether or not the EU would build a “Great Firewall” after the US Government demanded to see data from international companies that it was investigating?
Complexities in data sovereignty and the location of data coupled with the fluid nature of IaaS has caused some businesses to change the way in which they deliver services to countries outside of the US.
Microsoft is a premier example. Just today, Microsoft said that they would be building out data centers in Germany that would provide German businesses with a German Data Trustee.
The importance of having a German Data Trustee is the fact that compliance and data privacy regulations in Germany require it.
“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,” says Alex Stuger, Area Vice President for Microsoft Germany.
Microsoft quotes a BITKOM study that claims 83 percent of all German enterprises expect their cloud provider to have a data center in Germany.
The new data centers will be under the control of T-Systems, which is an arm of Deutsche Telekom. In the agreement, Deutsche Telekom/T-Systems will act as the data trustee and under the agreement, Microsoft will have no access to the data unless permission is granted.
When permission is granted, the data trustee audits, monitors and reports on the access of Microsoft employees, which in this case would serve customers in a vendor role.
The new data centers are expected to open up in mid 2016. Microsoft says that Magdeburg and Frankfurt will likely be the sites for the new data centers. Inside the data centers, customers will be able to deploy all of the same apps and services that they’ve become accustomed to using in other regions.
Users of the German data center will be able to use Azure, Dynamics CRM, Office 365 and more.
“Microsoft is pioneering a new, unique, solution for customers in Germany and Europe,” says Timotheus Hottges, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Telekom AG.
“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,” adds Hottges.
