Microsoft is making peace with CISPE, the European cloud association with which it has been in dispute for years. Not everyone is happy about Microsoft’s entry.
European cloud association CISPE (Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers of Europe) welcomes Microsoft as the organization’s 39th member. Officially, Microsoft’s entry has not yet been communicated, but CISPE itself confirms it to The Register. “There are many areas where we are aligned, so it’s helpful that Microsoft is joining,” said a spokesperson.
For those who have closely followed the history between CISPE and Microsoft, this will come as a surprising twist. For years, CISPE fought a legal battle against the software giant’s cloud licenses. The dispute ended in an amicable settlement, and with Microsoft joining the organization, all seems forgotten and forgiven.
License perils
CISPE went to war against Microsoft in 2022. The European cloud association felt that Microsoft was not being fair in its licensing of cloud products. Microsoft discounted software products and cloud services if customers ran them in the Azure cloud. This limited choice for customers who did not necessarily want to buy the full package from Microsoft. This was equally detrimental to small cloud vendors, as they could not possibly compete with Microsoft’s prices.
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Microsoft joins CISPE to the dismay of AWS
To avoid a lengthy lawsuit, Microsoft wrote a multimillion-dollar check to CISPE last summer and promised changes. The dispute thus came to an end, but not without conditions. CISPE launched a monitoring body to check whether Microsoft is keeping its word, and it regularly sits down with Microsoft itself to discuss progress. That’s going to be fun: the last meeting included a wine tasting on the agenda.
According to the CISPE spokesman, Microsoft’s entry was a track that had been under consideration for a long time. The organization believes it will have a stronger position with Microsoft at their side. Microsoft is also pleased and wants to build a “constructive partnership. CISPE intended to officially inform its members in mid-February, but the news was leaked earlier.
AWS votes against
The board’s decision to admit Microsoft was not unanimous. Some voting members objected. The most notable opponent was AWS, but it failed to win a majority. There are whispers that AWS was the driving force behind CISPE’s lawsuit against Microsoft. Surely AWS and Microsoft will now have to find a way to agree.
Google also tried to join CISPE. That failed because Google made demands. It wanted a seat on the board of directors and offered half a billion dollars to continue the proceedings against Microsoft. Google then joined another little club, the Open Cloud Coalition. According to Microsoft, that association serves only to conspire. The hyperscalers will not immediately become friends, that much is clear.
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