Microsoft makes Azure Germany available with a unique cloud model

Microsoft has announced the general availability of Azure from its new Microsoft Cloud Germany datacenters. The company claims Azure Germany datacenters to be a first-of-its-kind model in Europe, which has been developed in response to customer needs. Even though Microsoft Cloud Services are already available across Europe, with the company’s two new datacenters in the UK a couple of weeks back, this particular model, as stated by Microsoft, will provide a different option to an already available system, creating increased opportunities for innovation and economic growth for regulated partners and customers in Germany, the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

How is it different?

According to the company, customer data in these new datacenters, in Magdeburg and Frankfurt, is managed under the control of a data trustee, T-Systems International, an independent German company and subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Which means that the model will provide additional controls for customers’ data, as access is only provided with the permission of customers, or the data trustee. Also Microsoft’s commercial cloud services in these datacenters adhere to German data handling regulations and give customers additional choices of how and where data is processed.

Tom Keane, General Manager, Microsoft Azure, said, “With Azure available in Germany, Microsoft now has announced 34 Azure regions, and Azure is available in 30 regions around the world — more than any other major cloud provider. Our global cloud is backed by billions of dollars invested in building a highly secure, scalable, available and sustainable cloud infrastructure on which customers can rely.”

Built on Microsoft’s Trusted Cloud principles of security, privacy, compliance and transparency, the Microsoft Cloud Germany claims to bring data residency, in transit and at rest in Germany, and data replication across German datacenters for business continuity.

How will it benefit businesses?

Microsoft claims that businesses using SAP can use Azure as it supports SAP HANA; businesses in the IoT sector can use Azure IoT Suite; startups which want to use open source can access the Azure Open Source ecosystem; and businesses that are wanting greater reliability, faster speeds, lower latencies and more predictable performance than typical internet connections can connect to the Azure ExpressRoute which is now in partnership with Colt Telekom, e-Shelter, Equinix, Interxion and T-Systems International. “The Microsoft Cloud Germany is our response to the growing demand for Microsoft cloud services in Germany and across Europe. Customers in the EU and EFTA can continue to use Microsoft cloud options as they do today, or, for those who want the option, they’re able to use the services from German datacenters,” adds Keane in his blog. According to Microsoft, the availability of Azure in Germany will be followed by previews of Office 365 and Dynamics 365 later this year, and the general availability of Office 365 in the first quarter and Dynamics 365 in the first half of 2017.