Online intermediaries contribute more than €430 billion to European economy in 2012; Digital Single Market key to continued growth. The  European Digital Media Association (EDiMA) presented European Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier with a new Copenhagen Economics study which shows that Europe’s online economy is growing at more than 10% per annum, substantially faster than...

In recent years, cloud computing has evolved from an amazing innovation with lots of potential into an asset that we can increasingly no longer live without, both on a business and a personal basis,  catalyst of innovation and of economic growth.

We released our 2012 Law Enforcement Requests Report. This is our first Law Enforcement Requests Report. It provides data on the number of requests we received from law enforcement agencies around the world relating to Microsoft online and cloud services and how we responded to those requests. 

Early February, European Commission Vice-President Kroes set-out the Commission’s digital priorities for 2013-14, a package of 7 actions around the regulatory environment for broadband, with the headline Digital Agenda target of ‘100 MBps for every European’ in mind. And that includes efforts ranging from rules on wholesale broadband and engineering costs, to universal...

It’s an important time for privacy in Europe and globally, and I want to share few of my insights from recent events in Brussels we organized around Privacy and the revision of the EU Data Protection Directive.

The European Central Bank’s proposal to buy unlimited amounts of crisis-hit government bonds has provided a glimmer of light through the shadows of the financial downturn. In the long term however, it’s clear that Europe must re-engineer its economy to achieve sustainable economic growth and abate record-high unemployment levels, especially among young people.

Late June several hundred academics, entrepreneurs, regulators, politicians, civil society and other ‘digital enthusiasts’ met in Brussels for the second annual Digital Agenda Assembly, led by the European Commission.

This week privacy authorities from all 27 European Union member states adopted a long-awaited Opinion clarifying what companies must do to safeguard the private information of Europe’s citizens when these companies use cloud services. Known as the Article 29 Working Party, the Opinion from these experts is essential reading for every business considering moving to the cloud.

Where Europe succeeds, we succeed Europe matters to us. For the past thirty years, it’s been our aim to help fuel the European economy with the programs, partnerships, products and services we deliver, through ourselves and others. Our investment has reaped significant return for thousands of new and existing businesses across the continent. This year marks the 20th anniversary of one of...

One problem, one solution, right? If I use some metaphors in my consulting work over and again, it’s because they work.

We have entered a new era in computing, one in which users are utilizing computing power that they do not own directly and which is located somewhere else, in “the cloud”.

The roundtable discussion revolved around exploring the impact of cloud computing on the European economy and examine the challenges of the existing legislative frameworks.

Microsoft has been closely involved in the incubation and activity of SIENA and its preceding projects.  As the EC funded Venus-C project and our other cloud research engagement collaborations around the world approach the end of their second year, we have taken stock of the lessons we have learned and we chose to share our most interesting findings with the Cloudscape community.

When Europeans use cloud computing services, they are connecting to large data centres for the computing power they need.  When they want more cloud services, they need more computing power capacity in those data centres.

It’s an exciting time to be part of the rapidly changing technology environment. Just think of the changes in the tech sector over recent years. High speed broadband and mobile wireless are growing with the corresponding massive increase in internet users.

At the recent Fuelling the European Economy event, Vice-President Kroes reiterated her belief that the flexibility and efficiency of cloud computing will ‘change our economies’, and she is determined to help resolve barriers to adoption to help Europe become ‘cloud-active’.

The internet really started to ‘take off’ for businesses and consumers to use about 20 years ago.  Quite a bit of regulation has changed since that time to make internet ‘e-commerce’ easier, cheaper and safer.

Few would deny the transformative impact the digital economy has had on business and world affairs in the past fifteen years. In the mid-1990s, a majority of people had not heard of the internet; online streaming (let alone DVDs) were not yet invented; software was still distributed on 3.5 inch floppy disks that were neither floppy or round, while today, everything from content to operating systems is...

Hosted by Microsoft and the Fraunhofer Research Institute, the roundtable helped identify the main elements of the upcoming European Cloud Strategy and how this will affect European companies, government institutions and citizens.

More than 100 million people in Western Europe will buy a smartphone this year. Within minutes of opening the package they will be setting up connections to mail servers, downloading third-party applications and synchronising music and games with their existing online life.

Cloud computing is the crest of the wave of new and better computing possibilities – giving more efficient and cost-effective ways to run small and large organizations, and providing new applications and flexibility for individual and corporate users.  As you may have seen our CEO Steve Ballmer say, “Microsoft is ‘all in’ for the Cloud”. 

Governments across Europe increasingly recognize the benefits of making their non-sensitive and non-personal data open and reusable. The topic was outlined in many discussions at the EU Digital Agenda Assembly a few weeks ago. Indeed better access to public sector information based on open data can improve quality of life and facilitate interfacing with governments.

Continuing my cloud conversation with Microsoft International’s president Jean-Philippe Courtois, we now talk about the ongoing availability of cloud technologies for citizens.

Last week Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) did take place in San Francisco. Microsoft announced that, with immediate effect, it will support Windows Server2008 R2 Hyper-V running CentOS, a popular Linux distribution for hosters. This was the number one requirement for interoperability that we heard from that community.

On the topic of cloud computing, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, put a stake in the ground recently at the World Economic Forum, saying that she wanted Europe not simply to be cloud-friendly but also to be cloud-active. I was pleased to see her emphasis on several legal, technical and commercial issues that are most relevant to a...

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President, yesterday gave an interesting speech at the French Assemblée Nationale in Paris. Brad talked about the trends and possibilities of cloud computing, and what needs to be done in the way of better laws and improved industry and government cooperation to get ready for this technological shift. Microsoft also released...

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Legal & Corporate Affairs, talks to France’s Assemblée Nationale about the opportunities that cloud computing represents for the European Union.

Cloud computing may indeed become one of the backbones of our digital future”, stated Vice-President Kroes in a speech on "Cloud computing and data protection". While discussing the potential opportunity that cloud computing represents, and that “the free movement of personal data within the EU is another way to help to complete the Digital Single Market in Europe”, she emphasized...

Growth has been the watchword at the Government Leaders Forum (GLF) in London. It’s an event that brings together some of the region’s most influential public sector figures under one roof, in an effort to find new ways to drive sustainable economic growth in Europe.

For some, the talk of cloud computing produces more haze than light, and there is no doubt: we all need to see the deeper analysis of the economics of the cloud in order to make decisions about information technology strategies.  I work with public administrations across Europe, and see that the interest level in cloud computing is high, but there is also widespread desire for better understanding of...

This Microsoft-hosted workshop will examine how the use of new technologies, especially cloud computing can ease the path toward e-Health. The workshop will gather together important leaders in the European Medical Community as well as Health organizations involved in innovative telemedicine projects. It is being held on November 11/12 in the Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre in Brussels.

This Microsoft-hosted workshop will examine how the use of new technologies, especially Cloud Computing can ease the path toward e-Health. The workshop will gather together important leaders in the European Medical Community as well as Health organizations involved in innovative telemedicine projects. It is being held on November 11/12 in the Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre in Brussels.

I have a job within Microsoft that focuses on interoperability, working with other companies to make sure our products work well together. This is part of the company’s commitment to customers, and we understand that enabling choices creates more opportunities for our customers, partners and developers, and that also will make us more successful as a company in the future.   

The fact is, the world has changed. People are using more and more digital technologies, and the devices and software they use come from a wide variety of sources.

Last week I joined John Vassallo, Microsoft’s VP for EU Legal and Corporate Affairs, for an interview with Teri Schulz of Deutsche Welle radio. In this short piece John discusses the economic opportunity of cloud computing and some of the associated issues that industry policy makers are currently looking into.

Interoperability – the ability of different IT systems and services to work together – continues to be an important objective not only for the regulators, but for the industry. This important feature of technology enables users to control their data and allows them to work with products and services from different vendors. As interest in Cloud Computing grows, users are discovering the...

What does the cloud mean for the future production, distribution and consumption of audiovisual services? Does it mean the end of location-based production; lower production values and more user generated content displacing high value material? How can content be made secure and monetised? Is the cloud the answer to pan-EU content availability? Will the cloud overshadow broadcast TV or provide a flash...

The potential economic gains from cloud computing are greatest when users and suppliers enjoy a large-scale, borderless market - such as the one envisioned in the Single Market initiative. However, in Europe today some barriers limiting the flow of data in the cloud still persists, thus affecting both the productivity gains for users and the number of commercial opportunities for smaller EU companies...

 It’s a type of Rorschach inkblot test: two people could look at the EC’s Communication on the Digital Agenda for Europe and see interesting variations.

“I believe in horses….The automobile is a transient phenomenon”.

Last week, Commissioner Reding re-stated her desire to reform and modernize the EU’s Data Protection Framework Directive (95/46/EC).

With the uptake of cloud computing and web3.0 (web2.0 + mobility), consumers will have more access to information than ever before. But what are effective ways to optimize the information they get – and distill the information they need? How to process data meritoriously?

The age of ‘cloud computing’ is dawning, which will allow our data, software and computing power to be on our desktop and extended online as and when needed. This will provide many new opportunities for businesses and other organisations to manage large amounts of data and activities securely, efficiently and cost-effectively.

In Europe and elsewhere, computing is experiencing a powerful transformation. Driven by continuous innovations in software, hardware and the Internet, traditional models of computing are gradually shifting.   

Cloud computing is hitting the headlines, and for good reason: it is providing business and consumers with a vast array of new services. In addition, it is making computing more cost-effective, allowing businesses to do more with less. This is especially relevant to SMEs, which in the past often suffered under the strain of IT costs but can now scale without having to wonder how they can afford to make the...

As I had announced on the weekend, yesterday I was lucky to accompany Microsoft’s General Counsel, Brad Smith, to a presentation he gave on the company’s vision on Cloud Computing (find a nice summary by my colleague Steve Clayton here, or just have a look at the speech yourself).

Over the past months there has been a remarkable upraise in discussions around the topic of Cloud Computing (or Software+Services).

Brad Smith, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation gave a speech on: “Technology leadership in the 21st century: How cloud computing will change our world”

Times have changed. "Microsoft has been on a journey itself... doing things on interoperability that were unimaginable just a few years ago..."

For all the buzz about cloud computing, the potential benefits are real: cost savings as well as the exciting possibilities for small European entrepreneurs to reach global audiences with a minimum of upfront IT costs. Yet the adoption of cloud computing services will depend a great deal on how industry addresses the fundamental interests of users in security, privacy and interoperability, interests about...

With the web providing access to entertainment, banking and even healthcare, EU citizens are increasingly spending more time online. We have grown to rely and trust the internet to help us get on with our daily lives. However, the internet will fail to achieve its full potential if people lose faith in the way we protect people’s privacy and the information we share online. As a global leader,...

On June 20th 2012, in the presence of Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt, sustainability legend Gro Harlem Brundtland, IPCC Chair Rajendra K. Pachauri, EU Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard and 150 VIP guests at Rio+20, Eye on Earth has been chosen for the prestigious SUSTAINIA 100 list of solutions. For more information, you can visit:...

PDC: Ray Ozzies keynote, highlighting choice, diversity -- and interoperability

Viviane Reding, European commissioner for all things hi-tech, is known for telling it like it is. A passionate advocate for new technologies, she has made a name for herself by confronting anything or anyone she thinks hinders European citizens from benefiting from what technologies have to offer.

Collaboration is at the heart of the European project. Implementation of numerous European policies depends on cooperation between the Member States. Information technology plays a crucial role in enabling these policy goals to become a reality, and collaboration among the many stakeholders involved presents a need for technologies as well as processes that can work together.