Microsoft brings 365 suite on-prem as part of sovereign cloud push
- Reference: 1750141812
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/06/17/microsoft_365_on_prem_azure_local/
- Source link:
“Microsoft 365 Local” only runs on [1]Azure Local , the subset of Redmond’s cloud that brings the same hypervisor used in cloudy Azure on-prem. Microsoft suggests Azure Local as the environment in which to run applications that perform better on-prem due to requirements for low latency or security.
The software giant on Monday [2]pitched Microsoft 365 Local as offering customers the chance to run the service “in environments they fully control.”
Trouble in AI paradise? In other Microsoft news, the Wall Street Journal on Monday [3]reported that OpenAI has pondered commencing an antitrust action against Microsoft. The AI upstart is apparently concerned its deal with Microsoft gives Redmond too much access to its core technologies, allows the software giant to offer a competing coding assistant, and may restrict its ability to transform into a for-profit company.
A canned quote from Microsoft executive veep and chief commercial officer Judson Althoff states “Microsoft 365 Local enables customers to deploy Microsoft productivity workloads like Exchange Server and SharePoint Server in their own datacenters or sovereign cloud environments — with full control on security, compliance and governance.”
The main audience for Microsoft 365 Local appears to be European customers, as Microsoft announced it in the context of what Althoff described as “comprehensive sovereign solutions empowering European organizations.”
[4]
Those solutions include “Data Guardian,” an offering that means only Microsoft staff based in Europe can access the company’s cloud infrastructure on the continent. Microsoft already operates an [5]EU Data Boundary that aims to ensure European customers’ data doesn’t leave the bloc’s boundaries. Althoff wrote that the Guardian means “All remote access by Microsoft engineers to the systems that store and process your data in Europe is approved and monitored by European resident personnel in real time and will be logged in a tamper-evident ledger.”
[6]
Microsoft’ also extended its External Key Management to Azure Managed (Hardware Security Module), which means customers can store the keys they use for Azure on-prem. This one seems more aspirational than ready-to-roll, as Althoff wrote that Microsoft “is working with major HSM manufacturers such as Futurex, Thales and Utimaco to ensure their support.”
Althoff’s post also noted that Microsoft’s sovereign cloud service is currently in preview and “set to be generally available in all European cloud regions later this year.”
[7]
And that appears to be the nub of his post and the announcement of the services mentioned above, as European laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation aim to guarantee data sovereignty for EU citizens and Microsoft needs to comply. The Register has also reported that European users are [8]increasingly concerned that changes to the US/Europe relationship brought on by the second Trump administration’s policy changes mean [9]working with US hyperscalers now involves heightened risks.
More on-prem offerings and tighter controls that ensure data doesn’t leak outside Europe might satisfy some buyers. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/15/azure_local_explained/
[2] https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2025/06/16/announcing-comprehensive-sovereign-solutions-empowering-european-organizations/
[3] https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-and-microsoft-tensions-are-reaching-a-boiling-point-4981c44f
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aFE8vGotu-XtfvA9axdk_AAAA4Y&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/microsoft_unveils_a_finalized_eu/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFE8vGotu-XtfvA9axdk_AAAA4Y&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFE8vGotu-XtfvA9axdk_AAAA4Y&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/17/us_hyperscaler_alternatives/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/microsoft_unveils_a_finalized_eu/
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Time is a flat circle
Distributed, consolidated, distributed, consolidated...
Outsourced, in-house, outsourced, in-house...
Fat client, thin client, fat client, thin client...
The whole world goes round on a series of 10-15 years cycles that overlap (often detrimentally), each time discovering that there is no one "true answer", that different places work better with different systems, and that nothing is gained even when you leap the fence to look at the greener grass on the other side.
As soon as "cloud" became a buzz-word, I started a timer to see how long it would be before we all realised the problem with it and brought things back on-prem. That's now been started in earnest for a couple of years, as you can see by there being a product from MS ready for release for just that purpose.
Re: Time is a flat circle
I know its not a popular stance in these chat boards but I think this is a regressive step, feels like a kneejerk reaction to an increasingly legacy EU isolationist mindset.
I get the point around having control over data, but most of the cloud providers have pretty robust programs already in terms of limited access and control over data residency.
I remember when Exchange on premises was the dominant model, all that happened is companies never invested in any of the platforms so all you had was a series of increasingly out of support versions that companies refused to keep up to date. Whenever a new feature/function the business wanted came out, we had to spend years arguing for an upgrade budget to simply get the new capability out.
Fact is, that when a company has to find budget to keep systems up to date, its the first budget line to be slashed! It's why most of the banks still have critical systems on out of support systems! You can argue as an IT professional till you are blue in the face, but someone in finance will always find a way NOT to spend money.
I know the inhabitants of this board think that all you need is a Linux box, text editor and message board, but for most users they need as simple and out of the box experience as they can get, they need email, chat, fileshare to just work, when its a service you just consume then its MS, Google, whoever's problem and so it generally just works!
Re: Time is a flat circle
>>I remember when Exchange on premises was the dominant model, all that happened is companies never invested in any of the platforms so all you had was a series of increasingly out of support versions that companies refused to keep up to date.
You do of course know why they "refused to keep them up to date" don't you?
No? I will tell you (from bitter experience).
It is because the "update" process for Exchange was flakey and lengthy. The worst bit was that, at the end of the "update", you could well end up with a broken mail databse, no functioning connectors and the board of directors breathing down your neck because the only "recovery" available was a complete restore to the latest backup...
All this parlaver cause by microsoft's inexplicable, overly complicated, design of the Exchange back end and the paucity of the debugging tools available so although they told you "its broken" you couldn't see exactly why something broke.
Icon - cos that's generally what happened when one attempted an Exchange upgrade.
Re: Time is a flat circle
Ah! Another sad soul beaten and bruised by trying to wrangle early incarnations of Exchange and its idiosyncrasies - my personal favourite was the message, seen far too often, of "The Service failed to start because: The operation completed successfully' - error handling truly at it's finest...
Re: Time is a flat circle
EU isolationist mindset?
It's the US isolationist mindset that has them worried. I suspect it's not data leakage and GDPR that are the first consideration either. Trump - just like that - sanctioned the ICC so Microsoft pulled their email service. EU businesses and governments will be worried about the same thing happening to them if they use Microsoft 365. The effects of it going from 365 to 0 would be immediate, the effects of a data grab would be more delayed and probably less visible.
" they need email, chat, fileshare to just work"
Exactly. And I suppose Microsoft are hoping they don't notice the email bit because even if they have Azure/365 on prem, if they depend on Microsoft for email that would still be exposed.
Obviously Denmark are most concerned. Trump's bandwidth for foreign affairs (the political kind) is probably exceeded at present. He may well decide to take a swipe at somebody he perceives as weaker like any frustrated bully.
OpenAI has pondered commencing an antitrust action against Microsoft.
"Hey MS, here are the family jewels! Help yourself!"
"You're sure?"
"Yeah, no problem, fill your boots!"
"Well, if you insist... thanks."
No thanks
...only Microsoft staff based in Europe can access the company’s cloud infrastructure on the continent.
Wasn't the whole deal that MS did not have access? When they can access your local cloud, then you are not secure, at all, regardless whether MS' staff is based here in Europe.
Sigh.
A canned quote from Microsoft executive veep and chief commercial officer Judson Althoff states
Look, how were we supposed to know that Europe wasn't part of America and that we couldn't do what we damn well felt like without some bunch of pencil pushers sticking their oars in. If it wasn't for that orange asshat pissing people off we might have gotten away with it too. Anyway, here's onprem cloud... Enjoy.
365 Personal Edition
Logically the next evolution cycle of what used to be called the "Office Suite" will be "365 Personal".
It would allow installing 365 on a personal computer !
Imagine that.
Re: 365 Personal Edition
Ieeee! Heretic! Burn! Pitchforks!
Re: 365 Personal Edition
More likely: "365 Libre"
Re: 365 Personal Edition
365 Classic edition.
"as part of a move to satisfy European regulations"
And mostly to give Redmond a shield against those mounting rumors about moving to Linux.
Hey look ! You can stay with us, everything is on-prem now (like it ussed to be) !
Re: "as part of a move to satisfy European regulations"
. . . and PHB fuckwits everywhere breathe a sigh of relief, then reach for their wallets.
Re: "as part of a move to satisfy European regulations"
And still we would be owning nothing, because this "local" shit will phone home every day and become disabled as soon as MS wants. This is why I run only open source and local services at my customer's sites. It also costs a lot less than MS equivalents, both cloud and local.
More importantly
Time was that that a name like Microsoft 365 Local would have got a subheading referring to The League of Gentlemen, but not any more.
Re: More importantly
Hello, hello. What's going on? What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here.
Time is a flat circle
So we went from on-prem to cloud, lost functionality in both exchange and sharepoint, and are now returning to on-prem with the "enhanced" cloudy versions? Sounds about right.
We live in a crazy world where actually controlling where your data resides is a feature worthy of a sales pitch and likely pretty big markup.