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The European cloud wars are heating up. Microsoft accused its old rival Google of waging a secret war against the cloud company Azure, to gain the support of policymakers and antitrust authorities in Europe.
In a Blog post Today, Deputy General Counsel of Microsoft Rima Al-Alili Pre-empt the imminent launch of a new pressure group called Open Cloud Alliancewhich includes Google and several smaller cloud providers. Al-Aleeli described the group as a “weed group organized by Google”, alleging that Google “went to great lengths to obscure its participation, funding and control” by positioning smaller European cloud providers as the face of the alliance.
“When the group is launched, we understand that Google will likely present itself as a back-seat member rather than its leader,” Al-Aleeli writes. “It remains to be seen what Google has offered small businesses to join, both in terms of cash and discounts.”
The coalition is led by him Nikki StewartPublic Sector Director for a UK cloud hosting company Sifu. A document The initiative, published by Microsoft today, shows that the global “consulting firm”. DJA Group He was behind the recruitment drive. The DGA confirmed to TechCrunch that the alliance will officially launch on Tuesday (October 29). In response to an inquiry from TechCrunch, a DGA spokesperson added that it would not disclose the makeup of the organization’s funding at this time.
In a statement issued to TechCrunch, Stewart said the alliance is “transparent” about its members, noting that members are listed on its website. However, its website is not yet live, although it said it has 10 members including Google, Civo, Centreprise International, Gigas, ControlPlane, DTP Group, Prolinx, Pulsant, Cliro and Room 101.
“We are not against any one company, we are a pro-market coalition focused on defending the principles that will strengthen the cloud services market in Europe, mainly openness and interoperability,” Stewart said. “Any company that shares these values and cares about a healthy and thriving cloud market should join us.”
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The background to all this is License change 2019 Microsoft has made it more expensive to run Microsoft enterprise software on competing cloud services. This has led to cloud infrastructure providers in Europe (Sisbe), a non-profit European trade association of which AWS is a member File an antitrust complaint with the European Commission (EC), alleging that Microsoft was using its market dominance to tie customers to Azure.
Microsoft settled with CISPE in July, a move aimed at keeping regulators out of the deal It is said Including a $22 million payment as well as terms on how to better enable Microsoft some Cloud providers to run Microsoft software on their own infrastructure.
But it’s worth noting that this agreement excluded all major cloud scalers including AWS, Alibaba, and Google. Then, Google (which was not a member of CISPE) filed a separate antitrust complaint against Microsoft last month, alleging that Microsoft was using anti-competitive licensing practices to force companies to stay on Azure cloud infrastructure — but only after Google. It reportedly offered CISPE members €470 million To keep their case against Microsoft alive (which they rejected).
Moving forward to now, Google is on the cusp of launching its own version of CISPE, with lobbying political forces in Europe at the heart of its mission. The launch also comes with the establishment of the new European Commission He is scheduled to take office by the end of the yearwhile the UK is also in the midst of an ongoing market investigation into cloud vendor restrictive practices, with AWS and Microsoft primarily focused on the investigation. As market leaders. The investigation is scheduled to conclude in late 2025.
Al-Aleeli said Google’s lobbying efforts are intended to “deflect attention” from the regulatory scrutiny it faces elsewhere, including in the United States where it faces a historic disintegration over its alleged monopoly on the search and search advertising markets.
“Google appears to have two ultimate goals in its astute marketing efforts: to distract from the intense regulatory scrutiny Google faces around the world by discrediting Microsoft and tilting the regulatory landscape in favor of its cloud services rather than competing on the merits,” Al-Aleeli said.
A Google spokesperson confirmed its membership in the alliance, adding that it had been “very public” about its issues with Microsoft’s cloud licensing practices.
“We and many others believe that Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices lock out customers and create negative impacts that impact cybersecurity, innovation, and choice,” the spokesperson said.
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