Microsoft supports cloud infrastructure demand in Europe

Demand for cloud infrastructure continues to grow, especially in Europe, as organizations focus on migrating to the cloud and building new solutions that take advantage of AI. Microsoft is expanding our cloud infrastructure to support this demand and power more AI capabilities for customers.

This includes additional infrastructure at new and existing datacenters, deploying the most advanced AI accelerators from NVIDIA and AMD, alongside our own custom AI accelerator capabilities, faster networking and storage solutions, and optimized computing infrastructure. We are also working to make Microsoft Azure the best home for any enterprise workload, whether migrating existing workloads to the cloud easier or bringing SAP or Oracle Database Services into Azure.

Expanding our datacenter regions in Europe

Microsoft has over 60 datacenter regions across the globe, more than any other cloud provider. Each Azure geography contains one or more regions and meets specific data residency and compliance requirements. This lets them keep their business-critical data and apps nearby on fault-tolerant, high-capacity networking infrastructure.

European businesses are enmeshed in the global economy, exporting goods and services around the world. So, it’s important they have access to a cloud footprint that is as global as their customer base, and which provides the same ability to seamlessly scale abroad as they can at home.

We are investing in a significant expansion in specific European regions, which will make them our largest datacenter regions on the continent.

• UK South: We recently announced a $3.2 billion investment in next generation AI datacenter infrastructure and have showcased how customers in the United Kingdom are using the cloud to produce products and services with a vision of excellence.
• Sweden Central: Our investments in Sweden help customers make the best use of their data while also meeting Microsoft’s sustainability goals with free air cooling, rainwater harvesting, use of renewable diesel for backup power, and partnering with Vattenfall to deliver a large-scale 24/7 renewable energy matching solution. 
• Germany West Central: We recently announced a doubling of our Azure capacity by early 2024, as well as additional AI-related infrastructure investments coming. This is a region where our datacenters are perfectly situated in the center of Europe, allowing all European companies to access the Microsoft Cloud in a fast and secure manner.

These regions are the best place for new customers to begin their cloud journey, and for existing customers to grow their cloud footprint in Europe—with some of the best cost efficiencies and most comprehensive set of services. They will play a pivotal role in our European AI strategy, while continuing to meet European data boundary requirements. We have begun similar investment expansions for Italy North, which recently launched, and for Spain Central, which will launch in the coming months. These regions will quickly grow to have similar size and capabilities as the three regions above, over the next year or two.

This infrastructure investment will help a need for efficient, scalable, and sustainable AI-specific compute power and the needs of the private and public sector waiting to take advantage of the latest cloud and AI breakthroughs. It is critical that this growth and innovation does not come at the expense of the planet. Microsoft’s datacenters are designed to be sustainable and support our goals of being carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste. We believe AI will play a key role in tackling the climate crisis, and capabilities like Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability can help customers quantify carbon impact and measure optimizations.

While these regions offer cost savings, broad availability of services, and the capability to achieve long-term business growth, we have many additional regions across Europe that offer a cloud solution for every customer need. From network latency requirements to disaster recovery, compliance and data residency—such as the European Union (EU) Data Boundary, within which Microsoft has empowered our commercial customers to store and process their data securely within the EU. This list will continue to grow with our next European datacenter regions on the horizon in Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Finland, and Greece.

Choosing the right cloud architecture for your organization

In designing a strategy to use Microsoft Azure, customers can choose from many Azure regions around the world. Region selection is a key part of the overall approach to cloud adoption. There are some important decisions our customers need to consider in choosing the region right for them.

Identify when you’re optimizing for cost

There are many variables that help us determine the price of services in a region, including cost of land, labor, and energy. You can realize cost savings whether you’re migrating your first workload or fine-tuning complex deployments. Use the pricing calculator to find the most cost-effective Azure region for your workloads.

Take a multi-region approach

With the additional investments we are making in Europe, customers now have additional options to scale while navigating market changes to their business. Our customers can consider a multi-region architecture to help optimize workloads, reduce costs, and help scale their business, while still meeting European data compliance and regulatory requirements.

Understand your regulatory and compliance requirements

Organizations with specific data residency requirements, or other regulatory or compliance needs can choose the region(s) that help them meet those requirements. Microsoft’s commitment to our European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) customers, help them process and store customer data in their region.

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Leverage the Cloud Adoption Framework to achieve your cloud adoption goals. It provides best practices, documentation, and tools that help you create and implement business and technology strategies for the cloud.

Follow the Well Architected Framework to optimize an individual workload. It provides guidance for solution architects to build reliable, secure, and performant workloads that maximize the value of investment in Azure infrastructure.

Supporting our customers

As organizations and governments across the world are using the cloud to digitally transform and drive innovation, at Microsoft we remain committed to building a cloud infrastructure that supports the success of customers in the era of AI.

Source: microsoft.com

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The Total Economic Impact™ of the Microsoft commercial marketplace

In today’s fast-paced, AI-fueled business environment, organizations require a growing number of cloud solutions. In trying to meet this demand, software as a service (SaaS) sprawl can lead to wasted investments and cost overruns. Research by Forrester found that cloud marketplaces can minimize this challenge by helping organizations balance speed and agility. The Microsoft commercial marketplace allows customers to centralize their cloud portfolio, taking complexity out of the purchasing process. In a 2023 Total Economic Impact™ study commissioned by Microsoft, Forrester Consulting found the Microsoft commercial marketplace delivered customers a 587% return on investment (ROI) with a payback period of less than six months.

By connecting customers to our ecosystem of more than 400,000 partners through one trusted source, the marketplace simplifies and accelerates business-to-business (B2B) tech commerce. Forrester Consulting interviewed 10 customers that actively use the Microsoft commercial marketplace to quantify the opportunity. The research found that for a composite organization based on the interviewed customers the marketplace:

• Reduced employee time for onboarding new vendors by 75%.
• Reduced employee effort required for each procurement engagement by 50%.
• Optimized Azure cloud budget by recapturing up to 50% of at-risk spend.

“I can actually do procurement faster. I can make sure that my products get released faster, bringing benefits faster to the company.”

Director of IT, Financial Services

Simplify procurement processes

Enterprise buying is complex, especially in tech and with rapid advancements in AI. Procurement teams must navigate a multitude of choices, manage vendor relationships, and continuously adapt to emerging trends while ensuring investments meet immediate needs, as well as align with long-term business strategy in a cost-efficient manner.

Ultimately, organizations find the most success with the marketplace when the procurement team, or buying office, becomes involved at an organizational level. As a single destination to discover, try, and purchase certified solutions, the marketplace helps customers “make informed procurement decisions without having to devote significant employee time to researching, evaluating, and selecting a vendor,” according to interviewees in the Forrester Consulting study. Using the marketplace reduced employee effort required for each procurement engagement by 50%.

“We have readily available options for our suppliers that are already vetted and available. [Our teams] can adopt without having to go through elongated procurement processes, additional orders, and administrative processes.”

Director of Global Supply Chain, Telecommunications

For finance teams, interviewees reported in the Forrester Consulting study that leveraging features of the marketplace such as automated invoicing and billing systems “reduced manual data entry, eliminated billing errors, and expedited overall invoice processing and billing cycles.” Adopting the marketplace improved time savings for the payments and finance purchasing team by 30%.

“Once I buy a solution from the marketplace, I don’t have the nightmare of managing invoices and checking for accuracy.”

Executive Director, Government

Onboarding new vendors can be slow and cumbersome, at times delaying a customer from deploying new technology solutions. Using the marketplace reduced time required to onboard new vendors by 75%. Vendors can submit required documentation and access guidance and tools directly in the marketplace, reducing the administrative burden of reviewing paperwork and walking vendors through new processes.

“The Microsoft commercial marketplace has been really useful for fulfilling my day-to-day activities and facilitating my vendor relationships. …The contract and red tape is handled by Microsoft. I don’t have to go deep into my NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), legal documents, or contract redlining, and all those kinds of things.”

Director of IT, Financial Services

Maximize cloud investments

As cloud investments grow, customers are looking to maximize value. Many of the customers interviewed by Forrester Consulting for the study had consumption commitments with Microsoft Azure—contracts providing discounts on infrastructure once a customer meets a certain spending threshold.

The Microsoft commercial marketplace is unique in that it automatically counts 100% of eligible purchases towards a customer’s commitment, ensuring more value for the investment. Customers can quickly search Azure benefit-eligible solutions directly in the Azure portal.

Because of this benefit, Forrester Consulting found the marketplace helped customers optimize their Azure commitments, recapturing up to 50% of at-risk spend. Those interviewed by Forrester Consulting are in good company. According to Microsoft data, more than 85% of customers with consumption commitments are already buying partner solutions via the marketplace to maximize their investments.

“It’s dollar for dollar. Whatever we spend, 100% of it goes to our spend commitment, and that was a huge deal. For some of [Microsoft’s] competitors, [that’s] not the case.”

IT Sourcing Specialist, Manufacturing

Marketplace customers also got more out of their cloud budgets by avoiding costly proof of concept fees. Prior to using the marketplace, customers interviewed by Forrester Consulting said they often had to pay up-front fees for a proof of concept to vet new solutions. The marketplace makes it simple to access trial options, including free trials ranging from 30 days to six months, so customers can feel confident before they buy.

Source: microsoft.com

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