With its 'Microsoft Cloud Germany', Microsoft wanted to meet the special data protection requirements of German customers and engaged Deutsche Telekom as a data trustee. The US company was left out, its employees had no access to data - and would therefore not have been able to fulfill requests from American authorities to hand over data. However, it became known in March of this year that there was hardly any demand for the German cloud, which was launched at the end of 2015. Microsoft is therefore changing its strategy and is now fully relying on an in-house cloud again.

The software group is currently building new data centers in Frankfurt and Berlin to provide its cloud services: Azure from the fourth quarter of 2019, Office 365 from the first quarter of 2020 and Dynamics 365 in the course of 2020.

The two new German cloud regions will be part of the global Microsoft cloud network and will offer the same service levels and security standards as the cloud services in other regions. "We are also committed to complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation for our cloud services and have included corresponding provisions in our contractual obligations," says Microsoft. In addition, the company is aiming for certification in accordance with the C5 standard (Cloud Computing Compliance Controls Catalogue) of the BSI.

Changing customer requirements

However, Microsoft Cloud Germany is being discontinued. New customers can no longer use it and will have to switch to Microsoft's European cloud regions. The services are still available for existing customers. According to the software company, they will continue to be provided with security updates. Details on migration options are to be presented later this year for customers who want to move from Cloud Germany to a European region or the new German regions.

"Customer requirements have changed over the last three years," says Microsoft, explaining the end of its fiduciary solution. "Our customers want more comprehensive functionalities and connectivity with our global cloud infrastructure, which the sovereign Microsoft Cloud Germany with its special isolation does not provide." Alongside the higher prices, this was also the main criticism of the German cloud. As it was not part of the Microsoft cloud network, it was more difficult to exchange data with cloud services in other regions.

"In the new regions, customer data is stored in Germany, while the cloud services are also connected to the global Microsoft cloud network. In future, Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365 will be provided from the new data centers with their full range of functions," says Microsoft, extolling the benefits of the new strategy. Deutsche Telekom told CRN that it will continue to manage the cloud services for its customers in Microsoft Cloud Germany and guarantee full data protection. "We will continue to support Microsoft Cloud Germany for existing customers. And when the time is right, we will work with our customers on a transition."