REDMOND, Wash., and
OSLO, Norway, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. on
Wednesday announced plans to further expand its significant and
growing investment in cloud computing in Europe by delivering the intelligent Microsoft
Cloud from two new datacenter regions in Norway: one in the greater Stavanger region
and the other in Oslo.
The Microsoft Cloud, comprising Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and
Dynamics 365, will offer enterprise-grade reliability and
performance with data residency from new datacenter locations.
Initial availability of Azure is planned for late 2019 with Office
365 and Dynamics 365 to follow. Microsoft has deep expertise
protecting data, championing privacy, and empowering customers
around the globe to meet extensive security and privacy
requirements with Microsoft's Trusted Cloud principles and the
broadest set of compliance certifications and attestations in the
industry.
"Over a billion customers around the world trust the intelligent
Microsoft Cloud to provide a platform to help transform their
businesses," said Jason Zander,
executive vice president, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft. "By
delivering the Microsoft Cloud from new datacenter regions in
Norway, organizations will be
empowered through cloud-scale innovation while meeting their data
residency, security and compliance needs."
Equinor, an international energy company, has chosen the
Microsoft Cloud in Norway to
enable its digital transformation and drive cloud-enabled
innovation. The strategic partnership is supporting Equinor's
digital journey through a seven-year consumption and development
agreement valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars (USD).
Leveraging the cloud is a prerequisite for the energy industry's
transformation toward a digital future, and secure, reliable and
cost-efficient operations are a requirement for Equinor's
adaptation of the cloud.
"Equinor plays a central role in stimulating innovation and
advancement of the Norwegian economy, and we are deeply honored to
be partnering with them to help take their business into its next
stage of growth through the intelligent Microsoft Cloud," said
Kimberly Lein-Mathisen, general
manager, Microsoft Norway. "By bringing these new datacenters
online in Norway, we are also very
pleased to be able to pave the way for growth and transformation of
many other businesses and organizations in Norway, whether they be large enterprises,
government bodies, or any of the 200,000 small and medium-size
businesses that create Norway's
thriving economy."
Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, Norwegian minister of Trade and Industry
said, "The Norwegian government is deeply committed to helping
Norway thrive as a hub for digital
innovation. Norway needs new
industries that create jobs and boost economic growth. In
February 2018 the Norwegian
government released its datacenter strategy 'Powered by Nature,'
establishing that attracting datacenters and international
investments is an important part of our industrial policy.
Therefore, we are very pleased to see Microsoft's commitment to our
country with this new datacenter. We believe that datacenters and
cloud services will help ensure the competitiveness and
productivity of Norwegian businesses and government institutions,
and have a positive impact on our responsibility to our citizens to
create an inclusive working life, to the environment, and to our
economic development and job growth."
The delivery of cloud services from Norway expands on Microsoft's existing
investments having operated in the country since 1990 with nearly
600 people working in offices in Lysaker, Oslo, Trondheim and Tromsø across sales,
marketing and development, and a network of more than 1,700
partners. This new investment is the first time Microsoft will
deliver the intelligent Microsoft Cloud from datacenters located in
Norway and is expected to enable
greater innovation for oil and gas and other industries, as well as
the public sector.
Extending the value of the Microsoft Cloud regions for
Norway, customers can also take
advantage of hybrid cloud options with Microsoft Azure Stack.
Available through service providers in the region, Azure Stack
enables customers to develop solutions that harness the power of
consistency between Azure and Azure Stack to cater to unique
connectivity and compliance needs.
Microsoft has been rapidly expanding to meet an intensifying
customer demand for cloud services. By investing in local
infrastructure, Microsoft's intelligent cloud services help
companies innovate in their industries and move their businesses to
the cloud while meeting data residency, security and compliance
needs. Microsoft also has a long history of collaborating with
customers to navigate evolving business needs and has developed
strategies to help customers prepare for the new European Union
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We have invested to make
the Microsoft Cloud GDPR compliant, are delivering innovation that
accelerates GDPR compliance, and have built a community of experts
to help customers along their full GDPR journey.
Office 365 and Dynamics 365 continue to expand the
data residency options for customers with 18 geographies announced.
The two products are the only productivity and business
application platforms that can offer in-geo data residency
across such a broad set of locations. Each datacenter geography
delivers a consistent experience, backed by robust policies,
controls and systems to help keep data safe and help comply with
local and regional regulations.
Over the past three years, the number of Azure regions available
has more than doubled. Azure has more regions than any other cloud
provider with 52 regions announced across the globe.
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital
transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an
intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every
organization on the planet to achieve more.
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SOURCE Microsoft Corp.