Microsoft says hello again to China, goodbye to Russia
- Reference: 1646415736
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/03/04/microsoft_azure_china/
- Source link:
The Redmond software giant declared today that its new Azure region in North China went live with unrestricted access for customers on 1 March, with capabilities including hybrid and multi-cloud deployment, IoT, edge computing, and data intelligence.
As well as the Azure region, Microsoft said it is adding a set of services that are new to the China market. Among these are support for Azure availability zones to ensure resilience of applications, with Microsoft offering a 99.99 per cent SLA for virtual machines across two or more availability zones in this case. Also new is Azure Arc, which extends Microsoft's Azure Resource Manager to other platforms such as Windows and Linux servers and virtual machines hosted outside of Azure.
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Additionally, Microsoft is adding a Flexible server deployment option for Azure Database on MySQL, and [2]Azure Purview , a data governance tool for on-premises, multi-cloud, and software-as-a-service data.
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The expansion of Azure in China stands in stark contrast to the hostility that Chinese technology companies face from the US: late last year, American President Joe Biden [5]signed a law that forbids buying kit from companies deemed security threats, while the US also [6]revoked China Telecom's operating licence .
But Microsoft no doubt has its eyes on China's huge market – the country had over 900 million internet users as of 2020, and has apparently become the world's fastest-growing cloud market, with IDC claiming it has a year-on-year growth rate of near 50 per cent.
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This being China, Azure services are operated not by Microsoft itself, but by a Chinese partner, 21Vianet. In accordance with Chinese regulatory requirements, Azure regions operated by 21Vianet in China are physically separate instances from Microsoft's global cloud, but are built using the same technology. So protectionism isn't exclusive to the US.
[8]Microsoft updates Azure for Operators, adds private 5G
[9]IBM Consulting assimilates cloud firm for Azure expertise
[10]Users report trouble with Azure DevOps services
[11]Singapore signs for Azure-hued sovereign cloud from Microsoft
AWS has also expanding in the Middle Kingdom, adding its third Availability Zone to the China (Beijing) Region in June 2021. In line with Chinese regulatory requirements, this is operated by the Beijing Sinnet Technology Company. AWS has two other regions in China, in Ningxia and Hong Kong.
Google, however, [12]cancelled its plans to offer cloud services in China in 2020. As reported by The Register , the project, called "Isolated Region", was initiated in 2018 and set out to address Chinese regulations, but Google was apparently not happy with the requirement to deliver services through a Chinese partner company.
Meanwhile, in Russia...
Microsoft said just hours ago that due to the crisis in Ukraine, it would stop sales of new gear into Russia. "We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia," [13]wrote president Brad Smith in a blog post.
"In addition, we are coordinating closely and working in lockstep with the governments of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions."
Smith also spoke about how Microsoft is actively working to protect Ukrainian government, IT, financial, and civilian infrastructure from Russian cyberattacks.
He added: "As a company, we are committed to the safety of our employees in Ukraine and we are in constant contact with them to offer support in many forms, including those who have needed to flee for their lives or safety.
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"Like so many others, we stand with Ukraine in calling for the restoration of peace, respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and the protection of its people."
The list of tech giants cutting Russia loose continues to grow – AMD, Intel, TSMC, Apple, Google, Amazon, Cisco, Dell, HP, IBM, SAP, Oracle, and Lenovo, for instance – plus corporations in automotive, financial services, entertainment, oil, and more, amid sanctions against the Putin regime by the West. ®
PS: Facebook and Instagram have [15]blocked Russian outlets RT and Sputnik in the UK following a request by the British government.
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[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/28/azure_purview_ga/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YiKaGZAcJ08rNWhOgGZTCgAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/12/biden_signs_the_secure_equipment/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/beijing_lashes_usas_china_telecom/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YiKaGZAcJ08rNWhOgGZTCgAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/01/microsoft_azure_for_operators/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/16/ibm_neudesic/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/15/microsoft_azure_devops_down/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/11/singapore_azure_sovereign_cloud/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/09/google_abandons_china_cloud_plan/
[13] https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2022/03/04/microsoft-suspends-russia-sales-ukraine-conflict/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YiKaGZAcJ08rNWhOgGZTCgAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-invasion-facebook-and-instagram-to-block-rt-and-sputnik-in-the-uk-following-government-request-12557469
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
@Pascal Monett - Re: "China's huge market"
Don't worry! It's only until US terminates Russia, then they'll get back at knocking China.
Other than that, I agree with you. It's all about money and nothing to do with human rights or democracy.
Re: "China's huge market"
market that is under near-total surveillance.
with all the telemetry that Microsoft do on the rest of the world, they'll feel right at home
Not a microsoft user here, so forgive a possibly foolish question:
I have read that W11 requires a network connection to MS servers for initial operation. Is this true, and if so, what happens to any new W11 system when either MS or Putin pull the plug on such connections? What happens with older MS OSes?
@Neil Barnes - Re: Not a microsoft user here, so forgive a possibly foolish question:
You can safely assume they'll stop working.
Nothing can convince me MS did not include a kill switch in their products. You know, just in case some country would dare threaten US but it can come handy in other situations too. It's like you scratch my back and I scratch yours.
Something tells me China, Iran, India and others are looking closely into this matter. And they will have to make a decision.
Re: Not a microsoft user here, so forgive a possibly foolish question:
I am assuming Russia will just got back to using Windows 10 if they had issues with 11. Since you can activate using Windows 10 without a MS account or even requiring activating with a license key. But I suspect activating new Windows 11 PCs is the least of the worries in Russia at the moment
It's nothing to do with "freedom". The modern Western view is you can have a "totalitarian dictatorship" provided you keep it within the fringes of your agreed borders and don't launch a wholescale invasion of a country with a charismatic white leader who knows how to work social media and the world stage to his advantage. It's the latter rule Putin broke and is being punished for. Basically, be a dictator, not a dick.
See icon, since people don't always pick up on it --->
There's an opening for Microsoft, Google and Apple to be really clever
They should work together and distribute a software update (one of the Google Apps in the Play Store for Google to get it on a lot of phones and allow them to do it with OEM or carrier help) that has a hidden payload that gets triggered say a week later (to get it on as many phones and PCs as possible first) for anyone in Russia or using the Russian language on their device.
This payload when triggered (this is why they would work together, so it is triggered on all three platforms at the same time) would provide news updates from CNN and the BBC about what is going on in Ukraine. News would be downloaded from an ever changing list of IPs (with updates to the list delivered via the same mechanism so Putin couldn't block this news source, and there would be no way for PC or phone owners to block these news popups.
Short of making it a crime to possess a Windows PC, iPhone, or Android phone that uses Google he wouldn't be able to prevent all his citizens from getting updates pushed at them whether they want them or not.
The biggest fear Putin has is Russians getting real news instead of Putin's state run media propaganda. While this would be a pretty shady thing to do, it pales in comparison to what Putin is doing to Ukraine.
Re: There's an opening for Microsoft, Google and Apple to be really clever
Great idea, so nobody will ever trust $big_corp.
After all, if you do it to fight Putin, what's stopping $government to do it to fight child molesters/terrists/other_non-compliant people?
Some might say Micros~1 could do more to cripple the Russian economy by reversing their decision to "suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia"
China
> has apparently become the world's fastest-growing cloud market
Wow. I didn't realize spammers required that many resources.
I suppose Russian businesses will just use those centres.
"China's huge market"
Make no mistake. Xi can throw as many undesireables he wants into "reeducation" camps, the sheer market potential will ensure that ginormous tech giants will always be at the door, begging to get a slice.
Russia has less than 150 million people, and they are spread over many time zones. Claiming to support Ukraine is the current fad, and the tech giants will come back later whatever happens saying "now it is time to heal the wounds". They will say that whether Ukraine still exists or not.
China is a totalitarian dictatorship much like Russia.
You cannot claim to support freedom and rush to invest into a billion-sized market that is under near-total surveillance.
Your cupidity belies your words.