Microsoft is partnering to comply with local data sovereignty regulations – in other words, hang a 'keep out' sign for foreign snooping.

Mitch Wagner, Executive Editor, Light Reading

September 21, 2016

2 Min Read
Microsoft Partners With DT on German Cloud

Microsoft on Wednesday announced it's opening its first cloud data centers in Germany, in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, to comply with local data sovereignty laws.

Microsoft's partner is T-Systems International, an independent German company and subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT). T-Systems acts as a "data trustee" for Microsoft Cloud services, providing additional controls for customer data, which can only be accessed with permission of customers or T-Systems, according to a blog post by Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president for Microsoft Cloud + Enterprise.

The two new data centers and German service broaden Microsoft's existing European cloud offerings, and will be available to customers operating in Germany, the European Union and European Free Trade Association, Numoto says.

In addition to the German European presence, Microsoft claims to be the first foreign company to provide onshore public cloud services in China, through 21Vianet. Microsoft says its German offering is a first for Europe.

The German cloud service initially supports Azure, with previews later this year for Office 365 and Dynamics 365, and general availability for Office 365 in the first quarter and Dynamics 365 in the first half of 2017.

Data sovereignty laws -- such as the regulations Microsoft is complying with in Germany -- require data owned by a particular nation's businesses and individuals to physically reside within that nation's borders. They're designed to prevent foreign law enforcement from legally snooping on that data, and enable local law enforcement to require disclosure.

The German data centers are located in Magdeburg and Frankfurt, according to a Microsoft Azure blog post by Tom Keane, general manager.

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"With the introduction of new regions in Germany, Microsoft has now announced 34 Azure regions around the world with 30 generally available today -- more than any other major cloud provider," Microsoft says in a post on its News Centre Europe site.

Microsoft arch-rival Amazon Web Services Inc. opened its German data center in Frankfurt in 2014.

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— Mitch Wagner, Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profile, Editor, Light Reading Enterprise Cloud

About the Author(s)

Mitch Wagner

Executive Editor, Light Reading

San Diego-based Mitch Wagner is many things. As well as being "our guy" on the West Coast (of the US, not Scotland, or anywhere else with indifferent meteorological conditions), he's a husband (to his wife), dissatisfied Democrat, American (so he could be President some day), nonobservant Jew, and science fiction fan. Not necessarily in that order.

He's also one half of a special duo, along with Minnie, who is the co-habitor of the West Coast Bureau and Light Reading's primary chewer of sticks, though she is not the only one on the team who regularly munches on bark.

Wagner, whose previous positions include Editor-in-Chief at Internet Evolution and Executive Editor at InformationWeek, will be responsible for tracking and reporting on developments in Silicon Valley and other US West Coast hotspots of communications technology innovation.

Beats: Software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), IP networking, and colored foods (such as 'green rice').

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