Category Archives: Cloud Hosting
Microsoft thinks it might have made a breakthrough on its cloud monopoly case – TechRadar
Microsoft has entered discussions with the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) to address its ongoing antitrust case in Europe.
The case relates to the companys unfair dominance of the cloud market, which is reported to have been boosted by technical and financial limitations, causing customers to be locked into Microsofts own services.
According to Reuters, Microsofts approach to resolving the issue could see the company avoid a full-on EU investigation, which could result in fines, mandates, and significant reputational damages.
CISPE, which represents 26 EU cloud providers, including Amazon (but not Google), filed the complaint with the European Commission late in 2022, alleging that Redmonds licensing terms were harming competition in the EU.
In a statement (via Reuters), CISPE confirmed: Today, CISPE confirms that it has opened discussions with Microsoft aimed at resolving ongoing issues related to unfair software licensing for cloud infrastructure providers and their customers in Europe.
Discussions are in the early stages, but both parties are actively exploring potential resolutions. CISPE noted that substantive progress must be made within the first three months of 2024, alluding to the fact that the added pressure on Microsoft may see the company reach an agreement before an EU investigation goes ahead.
Microsoft has racked up $1.7 billion in antitrust fines over the past decade, and thats just within the European Union. The company has been seen to mellow in recent years, taking a more accommodating approach to avoid further penalties.
At the same time, other companies have also started to improve interoperability, likely due to mounting pressure within the EU for a more competitive landscape.
TechRadar Pro has asked Microsoft and CISPE for further information neither immediately responded.
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Microsoft thinks it might have made a breakthrough on its cloud monopoly case - TechRadar
The global cloud market saw its biggest ever growth as AI push continues – TechRadar
New research from Synergy Research Group has claimed global enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services has surged in the past three months.
In Q4 2023, the report found cloud infrastructure service spend rose to an unprecedented $73.7 billion, marking a considerable 20% growth year-on-year.
Synergy attributes much of this growth to generative AI technology and other cloud-based productivity services.
Even compared with the third quarter of 2024, spending in the sector had risen by more than 8%, or $5.6 billion, which Synergy says is the largest quarter-on-quarter increase ever achieved.
As well as help from AI technologies, the company found that economic, currency, and political headwinds are also causing fewer holdbacks today than in previous months.
Despite healthy company growth and revenue figures, Amazons cloud market share has been decreasing slowly over the past year. The company now accounts for around 31% of the market.
Microsoft and Google have both been taking some of this market from the industry leader, now accounting for 24% and 11% respectively. Microsofts market share growth in the final quarter of 2023 was especially positive.
Fluctuation between these three companies continues to play out, but together, they account for two-thirds (67%) of the entire market, leaving little room for competitors and fuelling antitrust arguments about unfair dominance.
Huawei, China Telecom, Snowflake, MongoDB, Oracle and VMware were all noted to have seen healthy year-on-year growth, too, with IBM and Alibaba on a downward trend.
On the whole, Synergy estimates that cloud infrastructure service revenues, including IaaS, PaaS, and hosted private clouds, totalled $270 billion in the 2023 calendar year.
Looking ahead, the research firm predicts that the annual market will soon surpass $500 billion, and while the mention of a specific year lacks, concentrated growth thanks to a boom in cloud computing and artificial intelligence could mean this is sooner rather than later.
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The global cloud market saw its biggest ever growth as AI push continues - TechRadar
Verizon Business folds multicloud management into NaaS framework – Light Reading
Verizon Business has launched a Network as a Service (NaaS) Cloud Management service for enterprises operating their networks in multicloud environments.
Many of Verizon's enterprise customers use multiple cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Oracle and IBM, Debika Bhattacharya, Chief Product Officer for Verizon Business, told Light Reading. However, the use of private, public and hybrid clouds has "become very complex as developers build applications on different clouds," she said in an email.
"The combinations of endpoint-to-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, data center-to-cloud, etc., has made the whole networking environment extremely complex," Bhattacharya added. "Users typically don't have strong visibility across these instances and environments."
Verizon's NaaS Cloud Management service provides visibility into multicloud environments via a customer portal. It can be used as a standalone service or together with Verizon Business' broader NaaS offering. By using it together with the larger NaaS framework, enterprises can "connect all sites, devices, etc., with simplified connectivity across multiple cloud providers. All the major cloud providers are supported," said Bhattacharya.
Related:Looking ahead: Nascent NaaS industry needs strong service provider buy-in
Automation to come
Instead of building network configurations whenever an application is added to a cloud instance, customers can perform this process through a centralized managed service. They can also utilize Verizon's NaaS Cloud Management portal to move cloud workloads, and gain visibility into capabilities such as load balancing, network traffic and performance, and firewalls within their cloud infrastructure. The service currently includes automation capabilities and will have machine learning (ML) features in the future, said Bhattacharya.
"The automation tools we use provide point-and-click capability for on-demand deployment," she said. "In the next phase, we will add integrated ML tools for management."
The NaaS Cloud Management service also provides customers with the ability to establish connectivity between public, private and hybrid clouds, as well as connectivity between clouds and their network edge infrastructure. This capability ensures a secure interconnection of cloud providers, data centers and end users, said Verizon.
North America is predicted to bring in the largest NaaS revenue opportunity over the next four years, and campus NaaS is forecasted to reach global revenue of $609 million by 2027, according to analysts at Dell'Oro Group.
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Verizon Business folds multicloud management into NaaS framework - Light Reading
Verizon Business launches multi-cloud management for NaaS offering – ERP Today
Pete Linforth from Pixabay
Verizon Business has announced Network as a Service (NaaS) Cloud Management, a new service that enables businesses to control application components and network architecture across multiple cloud environments public, private and hybrid, in a unified online portal.
Multi-cloud networking is popular among organizations for its ability to host applications in cloud environments with different accessibility, compatibility and data sovereignty policies. However, this could pose challenges for enterprise CIOs, such as connecting workloads across the different cloud environments and developing a standardized architecture and security practices.
NaaS Cloud Management plays a role in such scenarios, with the potential to help alleviate concerns with quicker application connections and response times. The technology is also said to provide better visibility into performance, process management and network conditions across the multi-cloud environment.
The solutions comprehensive view of cloud network and application performance promises easy insight into overall service health, network traffic, global network cloud connections and issue management tickets.
The new Verizon Business solution is designed to work with its NaaS offering to simplify multi-cloud management as part of the flexible service-model fabric.
NaaS Cloud Management could also enable users to establish connectivity between those public, private and hybrid environments, and between clouds and network infrastructure at the edge. This facilitates secure interconnection of cloud service providers, data centers and end users while maintaining security standards.
By standardizing workload connectivity and offering a uniform procedure for security protocols, governance and configurations, NaaS Cloud Management can consolidate complex multi-cloud networking processes into a simple, integrated network workflow that supports business transformations.
The NaaS Cloud Management solution can revolutionize the way IT teams deploy and manage cloud applications and monitor multi-cloud connections, making the process simpler and more user-friendly than ever before, said Debika Bhattacharya, chief technology solutions officer of Verizon Business.
Being able to deploy workload connections quickly between different environments empowers organizations to scale cloud engineering and development processes, mitigate risk and operate with minimal friction.
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Verizon Business launches multi-cloud management for NaaS offering - ERP Today
AWS sees another record year for Amazon as AI push drives cloud growth – TechRadar
Amazon has unveiled its latest quarterly results, revealing in the three months leading up to December 31, 2023, it drew in $170 billion in revenue, marking a 14% increase over the previous quarter.
Of that, $24.2 billion was driven by its cloud division, Amazon Web Services, representing a 13% increase compared with the same period 12 months before. Over the course of 2023, AWS pulled in $90.8 billion, up from $80.1 billion in 2022.
The divisions growth matched what analysts had expected, and is largely attributable to the increasing interest in artificial intelligence.
Revenue driven by AWS was slightly under that of Microsofts Intelligent Cloud services (which includes Azure), however Microsofts cloud revenue growth of 30% far outpaces that of Amazons. Even Google Cloud, with a much smaller revenue cash value, saw a considerably larger growth of 26%.
In a statement, CEO Andy Jassy shared some of the companys highlights, including a big mention of its ecommerce business. Jassy also recognized AWSs new generative AI features, such as Bedrock, Q, and its Trainium chips.
In recent months, the company has made considerable developments within AWS, including announcing a new AWS European Sovereign Cloud to better cater to European regulations and expanding the companys infrastructure with the launch of its AWS Canada West (Calgary) Region.
AWS now has 105 Availability Zones within 33 geographic Regions globally, and has confirmed its plans to develop 12 more Availability Zones and four additional Regions. Google Cloud, though, has 121 Zones over 40 Regions, putting it ahead of Amazon despite its smaller revenue.
Looking ahead, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said: We expect the acceleration to continue in 2024.
Jassy added: Gen AI is and will continue to be an area of pervasive focus and investment across Amazon, primarily because there are few initiatives if any that give us the chance to reinvent so many of our customers experiences and processes, and we believe it will ultimately drive tens of billions of dollars of revenue for Amazon over the next several years.
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AWS sees another record year for Amazon as AI push drives cloud growth - TechRadar
Synergy of IoT Platforms and Cloud in Enterprise Dynamics – Medium
In the ever-evolving landscape of modern enterprises, the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology has become a pivotal force for driving innovation and operational efficiency. The selection of an appropriate IoT platform holds paramount importance, serving as the foundation for a seamlessly interconnected network of devices. IoT platforms play a critical role in enabling global real-time connections, simplifying device integration, and facilitating data collection and analysis. Equipped with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), these platforms ensure seamless integration with enterprise systems, such as ERP and CRM, thereby enhancing customization and efficiency across diverse industries.
The trajectory of IoT platforms reveals a noteworthy shift towards an industry-driven approach, placing emphasis on advancements tailored to specific use cases. Branches such as Edge IoT and Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) have surfaced as prominent trends, showcasing pioneers in the integration of edge computing and AI platforms. Security takes center stage, with rising concerns addressed through innovative solutions rooted in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), ensuring the safeguarding of sensitive data, especially in industries like medical and industrial IoT.
The IoT platform landscape witnesses significant engagements from major cloud computing entities. Renowned for their user-friendly interfaces, comprehensive documentation, and reliable support systems, these platforms have witnessed substantial advancements in the year 2023. Innovations underscore responses to the challenges posed by emerging technologies, setting the stage for a new era of enhanced IoT frameworks.
A pivotal trend in the IoT arena is the seamless integration of analytics tools to augment operational processes. The integration of AI-driven analytics capable of identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement within industrial or enterprise settings showcases the industrys commitment to advancements. The year 2023 saw investments in edge-based networks and solution architectures, highlighting the potential of edge analytics to address data overload challenges and contribute to elevated scalability.
The complexity introduced by edge analytics, AI, and ML tools in IoT platforms has given rise to IoT observability tools. Rooted in cloud computing, these tools address challenges in debugging distributed systems and find applications in IoT and Edge devices. The industrys focus on interoperability in 2023 aims for reliable integration between two diverse IoT systems, promoting seamless communication between different devices and platforms.
The synergy between cloud computing and IoT constitutes a paradigm shift, revolutionizing how enterprises harness the power of connected devices. Cloud platforms provide scalable storage, real-time analytics, and remote device management, facilitating global connectivity and ensuring low latency. Robust security measures fortify the IoT ecosystem against potential threats. Cloud services empower IoT applications with machine learning and AI capabilities, enabling advanced analytics and predictive maintenance. The inherent cost efficiency of cloud platforms, coupled with their interoperability and support for firmware and software updates, positions them as the backbone of successful IoT deployments.
Choosing an optimal cloud provider is pivotal for unlocking the full potential of IoT operations within enterprises. Considerations must span factors such as scalability, security measures, connectivity options, and industry-specific expertise when embarking on IoT endeavors. Cloud providers offering robust security measures, seamless connectivity, and compliance with industry regulations become essential. A focus on scalability, interoperability, and real-time capabilities ensures that the chosen cloud provider aligns with the dynamic and evolving nature of IoT applications.
As enterprises navigate the transformative landscape of IoT, the careful selection of IoT platforms and cloud providers emerges as a crucial determinant of success. The integration of analytics, observability tools, and a focus on interoperability signifies the evolution of IoT towards a more interconnected and intelligent future. Choosing a reliable cloud provider aligns with the scalability, security, and real-time requirements of IoT operations, ensuring enterprises leverage the full potential of IoT to enhance efficiency, drive innovation, and stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital era. The symbiotic relationship between IoT platforms and cloud services creates a dynamic ecosystem, poised to shape the future of connected enterprises.
This article is re-published from: https://www.scloud.sg/resource/synergy-of-iot-platforms-and-cloud-in-enterprise-dynamics/
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Synergy of IoT Platforms and Cloud in Enterprise Dynamics - Medium
Everything You Need To Know About TurboTax Cloud Hosting: Simplify Your Tax Season – WhaTech Technology and Markets News
With this blog post, we will cover everything you need to know about TurboTax Cloud Hosting, from its features and tools to tips on how to use it effectively.
Tax season can be a daunting and overwhelming time for many individuals and businesses. The thought of navigating through piles of paperwork, complex calculations, and ever-changing tax laws can send shivers down anyone's spine.
But fear not! There is a solution that will simplify your tax season woes - TurboTax Cloud Hosting. In this blog post, we will dive into everything you need to know about TurboTax Cloud Hosting, from its features and tools to tips on how to use it effectively.
Say goodbye to the stress of tax filing as we explore how TurboTax Cloud Hosting can save you time, money, and hassle. So let's get started!
TurboTax Cloud Hosting is a revolutionary solution that brings the power of TurboTax to the cloud. But what exactly does that mean? Simply put, it means you can access and use TurboTax from anywhere, at any time, using any device with an internet connection.
Gone are the days of installing software on your computer or worrying about compatibility issues. With TurboTax Cloud Hosting, everything is stored securely in the cloud.
This means you don't have to worry about data loss or being tied down to a specific device.
Not only does TurboTax Cloud Hosting offer convenience and flexibility, but it also provides a seamless user experience. The interface is intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy for individuals with varying levels of tax knowledge to navigate through their tax filing process effortlessly.
One of the key benefits of TurboTax Cloud Hosting is its collaboration feature. If you're working on your taxes as part of a team or need assistance from an accountant or tax professional, you can easily share access to your tax return without having to physically transfer files back and forth.
Additionally, TurboTax Cloud Hosting ensures that all updates and enhancements are automatically applied across all devices. This means you'll always have access to the latest features and tools without having to manually update anything yourself.
Understanding TurboTax Cloud Hosting essentially boils down to one thing - convenience. It offers accessibility from anywhere at any time while providing a streamlined user experience and collaborative capabilities.
Now that we've grasped the concept behind this innovative solution let's delve into its impressive features and tools!
TurboTax Cloud Hosting offers a range of features and tools that make navigating tax season a breeze. One of the standout features is its user-friendly interface, which allows even those with limited technical skills to easily input their financial information and complete their taxes online.
With just a few clicks, you can access all the necessary forms and worksheets needed to accurately file your taxes.
Another great tool offered by TurboTax Cloud Hosting is its comprehensive tax deduction finder. This feature helps ensure that you don't miss out on any potential deductions or credits that could save you money.
By simply answering a series of questions about your personal situation, TurboTax will automatically search for applicable deductions and guide you through the process.
For those who have complex tax situations or need additional assistance, TurboTax also offers live chat support with tax experts. This means you can get personalized advice and answers to your specific questions without ever leaving the comfort of your home.
Additionally, TurboTax Cloud Hosting provides secure storage for all your tax documents and returns. This eliminates the need for physical paperwork cluttering up your desk or filing cabinet while ensuring that important documents are always accessible whenever needed.
TurboTax Cloud Hosting's extensive range of features and tools streamlines the entire tax preparation process, making it easier than ever before to navigate through complicated forms and regulations. Say goodbye to long hours spent poring over confusing instructions with TurboTax Cloud Hosting, filing your taxes has never been simpler!
Remember these tips while using TurboTax Cloud Hosting for a smooth and efficient tax season experience!
Cost comparison is an important consideration when it comes to filing taxes. Traditional tax filing methods often involve hiring a professional accountant or visiting a tax preparation service, which can be quite costly.
Not only do you need to pay for their services, but there may also be additional fees for any forms or documents they need to process on your behalf.
On the other hand, TurboTax Cloud Hosting offers a cost-effective solution for individuals and businesses alike. With TurboTax Cloud Hosting, you can access all the necessary tools and features online without having to hire an expensive accountant.
This means significant savings in terms of both time and money.
Additionally, TurboTax Cloud Hosting eliminates the need for purchasing physical software or making regular updates as everything is stored securely in the cloud. This reduces overhead costs associated with maintaining hardware and software systems.
Furthermore, TurboTax Cloud Hosting also simplifies the process by automatically calculating deductions and credits based on your inputted information. This not only saves time but also helps ensure accuracy in your tax filings.
When comparing the cost of traditional tax filing methods with TurboTax Cloud Hosting, it's clear that opting for cloud-based solutions can lead to substantial savings. By utilizing this efficient and affordable platform, individuals and businesses can simplify their tax season while keeping more money in their pockets! So why wait? Try out TurboTax Cloud Hosting today!
In today's fast-paced world, finding efficient solutions to simplify our lives is a top priority. And when it comes to tax season, we all want a stress-free experience that saves us both time and money.
This is where TurboTax Cloud Hosting comes into play.
With its cloud-based platform, TurboTax provides an innovative way to file your taxes securely and conveniently from anywhere. By harnessing the power of advanced technology and user-friendly tools, this software takes the complexity out of tax preparation.
TurboTax Cloud Hosting offers a wide range of features and tools that make filing your taxes a breeze. From effortless data importation to smart suggestions on deductions and credits, it guides you through every step of the process.
The intuitive interface ensures that even those who have never filed their own taxes can easily navigate through the software.
One of the standout features of TurboTax Cloud Hosting is its ability to securely store your tax information in the cloud. Gone are the days when you had to worry about losing or misplacing important documents.
With this hosting solution, all your data is safely stored online, accessible at any time from any device with internet connectivity.
Another major advantage of using TurboTax Cloud Hosting is its cost-effectiveness compared to traditional tax filing methods or hiring a professional accountant. By opting for this cloud-based service, you eliminate expenses related to paper forms or physical appointments while still benefiting from expert guidance throughout the process.
Moreover, by leveraging automation and artificial intelligence capabilities built into TurboTax Cloud Hosting, you can save hours spent on manual calculations and research. The software does all the heavy lifting for you by automatically performing complex calculations based on accurate algorithms tailored specifically for different tax scenarios.
To make the most out of TurboTax Cloud Hosting effectively:
In conclusion, if you want to save time, money, and hassle during tax season, TurboTax Cloud Hosting is the way to go. With its user-friendly interface, advanced features, and cost-effectiveness, it simplifies the tax preparation process and ensures accurate results all while providing secure storage of your data in the cloud.
Make filing your taxes stress-free by switching to TurboTax Cloud Hosting today.
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Everything You Need To Know About TurboTax Cloud Hosting: Simplify Your Tax Season - WhaTech Technology and Markets News
Point-based solutions for cloud security make way for platform approach – The Register
Sponsored Post Analyst forecasts suggest the global momentum behind migration of enterprise data and systems to cloud computing platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ramping up exponentially.
In Europe, the cloud computing market was estimated by Statista to be worth 63 billion euros in 2021 and is forecast to reach a cool 560 billion Euros by 2023.
However, security specialist Trend Micro warns that, as more organisations adopt cloud computing (including multi-cloud), they face a raft of cybersecurity challenges. These include lack of control, limited visibility, and an ongoing skills gap all of which are hindering faster and more effective adoption of cloud technologies. In order to address these issues Trend Vision One provides an automated, flexible, all-in-one security platform experience designed for those companies hosting data, applications and services in the AWS cloud.
Trend Vision One replaces legacy point cloud security solutions - which were typically comprised of multiple separate components and interfaces - with a single, integrated platform controlled by one management pain that streamlines organisation and increases protection of cloud infrastructure and native apps. Engineered to stop attacks and minimise business disruptions, it's designed to deliver powerful automated protection using features that detect and protect against vulnerabilities, malware and unauthorised changes.
Trend Micro says that Trend Vision One boasts the broadest cloud-native application protection platform capabilities, whether AWS all the way, or mixed environments of virtual, physical, cloud, and containers. The company's solutions can even automatically protect new and existing workloads and applications from unknown threats using technologies like machine learning and virtual patching, it says.
Independent IT and security analysts have endorsed Trend's security solutions, currently trusted to protect the infrastructures of over 500,000 companies worldwide. IDC rates Trend number one in its Worldwide Cloud Workload Market Share Report, while Gartner named Trend a Representative Vendor for the March 2023 Gartner Market Guide for Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms. And MITRE praised Trend in its latest MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations study, noting that its solutions achieved a perfect 100 percent success rate in blocking attacks.
Trend Cloud Security boasts top marks on AWS with a five star rating by AWS customers.
Download a free 30-day trial of Trend Cloud Security, either directly from Trend here, or from AWS here.
Sponsored by Trend Micro.
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Point-based solutions for cloud security make way for platform approach - The Register
4 ways to support contact center calling redundancy – TechTarget
A critical component of customer experience is to ensure that customer calls are answered in a timely manner. If the customer service line is down or if agents aren't available, customers become disappointed and dissatisfied.
Although cloud-based unified communications (UC) systems offer more contact center redundancy and resiliency, they are not free from operational and technological glitches.
Organizations migrate to cloud-based UC to reduce their server footprint, as well as outsource support and management to the UC provider. Contact center organizations can also integrate with the new cloud-based phone system.
Microsoft Teams, for example, integrates with contact centers to provide capabilities such as call routing, voice analytics, speech recognition, mobility and call scripting. Disaster recovery is another desirable capability as Microsoft invests more into redundancy and reliability for Teams. However, organizations must prepare for other failures that could result in a phone system outage for a contact center.
The greatest single point of failure for any organization hosting its calling platform in the cloud is its network and internet connection. IT leaders must ensure redundant networking and internet connectivity -- but not just for corporate headquarters. Remote users and offices must also be provided with multiple connectivity options.
Hosted systems can be vulnerable to cyberattacks fueled by something as simple as a leaked administrative credential. To ensure administrative systems are well protected, IT leaders must implement strict password policies and require users to satisfy multifactor authentication protocols before they can access a contact center's administrative console.
For organizations relying on hosted phone platforms, the right bandwidth makes a huge difference in call quality. System health and quality must be continually monitored to ensure the network has enough bandwidth to meet performance objectives.
Just like any cloud-based UC platform, Microsoft continuously updates Teams, and it's important that employees use the latest version of the software. Doing so helps keep operations secure and reduces the chance that a bug or an outage disrupts the users or client experience.
By following some of these recommendations, IT administrators can help ensure their phone system supports contact center redundancy. Even if Microsoft or another cloud provider itself suffers from an outage, these suggestions reduce client-side risks associated with configurations or system failures that could cause a system outage.
Reda Chouffani runs the consulting practice he co-founded, Biz Technology Solutions Inc. He is a healthcare informatics consultant, cloud expert and business intelligence architect who helps enterprise clients make the best use of technology to streamline operations and improve productivity.
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4 ways to support contact center calling redundancy - TechTarget
Vodafone eyes cloud overhaul and generative AI gains in $1.5 billion deal with Microsoft – ITPro
Vodafone and Microsoft have agreed on a $1.5 billion, 10-year partnership that will transform Vodafones cloud capabilities through Microsofts Azure platform.
The telecoms giant said the deal will enable it to accelerate digital transformation efforts as part of a virtual data center migration to Microsoft Azure.
Long-term, Vodafone expects the move to curb maintenance and energy costs across operations in both Europe and Africa.
In a statement confirming the partnership, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said the tech giant will support Vodafone in applying the latest cloud and AI technology to enhance customer experiences.
Vodafone Group chief executive Margherita Della Valle said the partnership represents a bold commitment from the telecoms giant, and one that will benefit both consumers and businesses alike.
This unique strategic partnership with Microsoft will accelerate the digital transformation of our business customers, particularly small and medium-sized companies, and step up the quality of customer experience for consumers.
Cloud transformation is just one of five key areas of collaboration identified by the two companies.
The deal will grant Vodafone access to Microsofts Copilot AI capabilities, allowing them to develop a range of customer-facing generative AI tools. Vodafone said it wants to improve customer service through reactive, personalized digital assistants.
Microsoft also intends to help scale M-Pesa, a fintech subsidiary of Vodafone that dominates the financial transaction market in Africa. Microsoft will host M-Pesa on Azure, while both companies will also launch a digital literacy and outreach program in the region.
As part of the deal, Microsoft also plans to invest heavily in Vodafones standalone Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity platform, which connects 175 million devices and platforms worldwide.
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Vodafone will also extend its commitment to distributing Microsofts cloud, security, and productivity services across Europe. This keeps in line with Microsofts strategy to become the region's leading platform for business.
The focus here is on small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), who will benefit from deploying Microsoft services at a slower and more adaptable pace.
Leveraging their respective strengths, Vodafone and Microsoft look to scale their digital platforms to more than 300 million businesses, public sector organizations, and consumers across Europe and Africa as a result of the deal.
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Vodafone eyes cloud overhaul and generative AI gains in $1.5 billion deal with Microsoft - ITPro