EU industry group has its eye on Microsoft’s cloud business

ECCO’s initial task is to assess Microsoft’s progress on software commitments outlined in the settlement, and a technical summit is scheduled at Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters in December. ECCO will release its first progress report post-summit, with follow-ups planned for February and April.

The observatory will also monitor other software giants that operate in Europe, including Broadcom and its subsidiary VMware, to ensure that their practices do not restrict cloud choices for European customers, according to CISPE.

“Some software providers are using unfair licensing terms as a way of limiting this choice and creating monocultures,” the CISPE spokesperson said. “ECCO will call out these unfair practices helping to create a cloud sector in which all parties can build the cloud solutions they need.”

More choice for CIOs

It’s not the first time an industry group has created a watchdog to ensure a fair and competitive marketplace, and historically “they rarely have outsized impact,” noted one industry analyst.

What they can do, however, is to “set precedents letting tech vendors known to play by the book and not assume they are too big to be brought in line,” a message that’s critical to send to promote fair competition, said Yugal Joshi, a partner at Everest Group.

If ECCO operates as intended, it should help bolster a local cloud ecosystem that has been hamstrung by Microsoft and other hyperscalers that have used their power to make it cost-prohibitive for smaller players to diversify their offerings.