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.

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.

Standards are an important part of a dynamic ICT marketplace, fostering interoperability, collaboration, competition and consumer trust.

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”. 

I’m Craig Shank, and I work in Microsoft’s Interoperability Group. I’m excited to join in sharing our thoughts on some of the key collaborations needed to make products and services work together across the ICT marketplace

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.

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.

Following the recent economic downturn, public sector administration across Europe have had to make some tough financial decisions, whilst still ensuring high quality and cost effective services for the ever more digital citizens in Europe.

The successful future of online advertising depends on the trust of consumers, which in turn depends on transparency. Yesterday Microsoft along with other industry players signed the IAB Europe led Online Behavioural Advertising Framework (OBA), a piece of self-regulation that will help users understand and control behavioural advertising that they receive.

Microsoft is filing a formal complaint with the European Commission as part of the Commission’s ongoing investigation into whether Google has violated European competition law. We thought it important to be transparent and provide some information on what we’re doing and why.

When I talk with government leaders and chief information officers across our region, I’m often asked questions that seek to learn more about the latest trend towards cloud computing. These questions range from legislative compliance such as data security and privacy, to data formats and interoperability, to budgeting policies and how Microsoft is responding to these specific public sector...

This week has seen the launch of several initiatives by the European Commission to improve e-Government services for European citizens, including an overall action plan and a new Framework to make these services work better.

In a Brussels speech on 3 December 2010 , Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda, said: “We are now living through a permanent digital revolution. This long and peaceful revolution is changing how we organize our lives. Powerful computing platforms are creating new markets and we are finding new ways to leverage user creativity.”

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.

June 2010 saw the EU Council agree on a Draft Directive on cross-border care. While this is not the final step for full adoption the positive vote of the EU Council is opening a new perspective on cross-border care and on the use of eHealth as a tool to facilitate the mobility of EU citizens.   

ICT policy in the EU has been promoting openness for a long time, most recently with the Digital Agenda, and more of industry is lining up with these policies.  This is a very positive thing and Interoperability will remain a key objective in ICT policymaking for a long time, as policy makers examine both the prospect of new technologies relating to cloud computing as well as the legacy of a variety of...

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...

This is another really nice piece on the power of cloud computing. My colleague Mark Drapeau, Director of Social Engagement talks about the massive energy boost this ‘pay as you go’ approach to IT offers anyone moving to the cloud. And he literally means anyone: from the one-man start-up, through to small and medium size businesses, universities and schools, as well as public administration....

Recently I was invited to speak about new business models of eHealth at a conference in Denmark. It was surprising that this eHealth conference, The New Age of Health IT, was in fact organized by the International Bar Association!

HealthVault – the Microsoft Personal Health Record platform – is now in Europe! While, in several posts on EMEA Health blog, I was discussing the potential benefits of such a platform in Europe, a first launch happened this June in the UK.

In May, our Vice President for European Affairs John Vassallo wrote about the newly announced EU Digital Agenda program, which followed on from the call in the EU Ministers’ their April “Granada Declaration” to use information and communication technology (ICT) more effectively to help address Europe’s priorities. The actions that the Commission will be pursuing in the Digital...

Today, we try to control just about every aspect of our lives. Technology, software, mobile devices and a culture of individual empowerment means we have greater choice over how, when and where we work and live.

 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.

Personalised healthcare stands at the confluence of the most powerful technologies in the history of the life sciences.  

There is one game-changer that can turn the promise of personalised healthcare into a reality. It is healthcare IT, says Alan Davies from GE Healthcare.

  ICT interoperability is a fundamental challenge for our industry.

One aspect of government we thoroughly dislike here in the UK is useless and inefficient bureaucracy. 

Microsoft strongly supports the efforts of the European Commission and governments across Europe to build smart, sustainable and inclusive growth outlined in the Europe 2020 strategy.

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

In this case study, you can read about the partnership between the European Environment Agency (EEA) and Microsoft to develop the “Eye on Earth” application on cloud to give Europeans data on water and air quality. An agency of the European Union, the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides independent and reliable information on the environment for policy makers and the general...

Hear me talking about the Eye on Earth online tool. This website shows data from thousands of air and water quality stations from across Europe in real-time. (By the way, I say 60,000 stations in the video but I was told I got a little ahead of myself - it's actually 6,000!).

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...

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...

Interoperability and building trust in the privacy and security of eHealth systems is the route to patient-centric healthcare

Potential cost-savings from eHealth are being jeopardised because computer systems cannot talk to one another, according to experts from the public and private sectors at a meeting in Brussels in September organised by Microsoft.

This has already been a busy month in Europe for Microsoft cooperating with competitors to ensure that different software products can work better with each other.   

eHealth is key to better patient care but health systems should work together i.e. be interoperable if widespread eHealth is to become a reality. Here are the basics, as described by a series of experts. Filmed at an event hosted by Microsoft Europe - interoperability and eHealth - in September 2009.

Video from Microsoft Interoperability Series on the EU Services Directive. Filmed in Brussels, October 2009.

Erich Andersen, VP and Deputy General Counsel of the Windows Business at Microsoft, speaking about the prevalence of interoperability in Windows 7.

 “Our goal is to promote greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for customers and developers throughout the industry by making our products more open and by sharing even more information about our technologies.” — Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft

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

The EU's Services Directive aims to facilitate the provision of services across borders within the European Union and requires EU Member States to establish an online space for service providers to have a Single Point of Contact (SPOC.) 

Interoperability and eHealth might at first glance appear as very different concepts – but the actual relationship between the two is extremely important. 

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.