Microsoft opens Azure cloud in Norway
Microsoft has launched an Azure cloud region in Norway, delivering it from two data centers announced in 2018.
The company has cloud regions based in facilities in Oslo and Stavanger. Also today, Microsoft has announced a pilot project in neighbouring Sweden, working with energy supplier Vattenfall, to give businesses real-time visibility of the sources of their electricity consumption.
Nordic cloud
Microsoft is the first of the global cloud providers to get regions running in Norway, beating Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google. Azure president Brad Smith says this locally delivered cloud will help customers to meet Norwegian privacy rules.
“Our customers have entrusted us to protect, operate, and develop our platform in a way that keeps their data private and secure," said Smith on a visit to Norway, according to an Azure blog. "This is an immense responsibility that we can’t just claim, but a responsibility that we must earn every single day.”
Microsoft already has several customers on Azure in Norway, including DNB, the country's largest financial group. DNB will be migrating to the Azure cloud, allowing its customers to do international business while meeting Norwegian data handling regulations. “The possibility of data residency was a decisive factor in choosing Microsoft’s data center regions," said Alf Otterstad, EVP of IT at DNB
Energy company Equinor is moving its systems to Azure, and Lånekassen, and the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund is moving to Azure and planning to develop other citizen services for the Norwegian workforce. The Norwegian postal service, Posten Norge AS is also a customer.
source datacenterdynamics
Industry: Data Centre / Data Center
