Microsoft joins the European cloud group that sued it for antitrust

Microsoft seems to be a believer in the adage that if you can’t beat them, join them. Shortly after Microsoft executives settled antitrust claims with CISPE, a major European cloud organization, last summer, they began negotiating with the group to become a member.

CISPE was one of several European organizations to pursue legal actions against Microsoft, mostly involving cloud-related antitrust actions. 

On Tuesday, CISPE announced that its board had accepted Microsoft’s application for membership. The announcement, which CISPE posted on LinkedIn, had been scheduled to be published in February, but CISPE accelerated its timing when word leaked out. The board vote to accept Microsoft happened last week, on Jan. 15, said CISPE spokesperson Ben Maynard. Microsoft had applied for membership earlier in January, just in time for it to be considered at the Jan. 15 board meeting, Maynard said. 

Ian Tyler-Clarke, an executive counselor at Info-Tech Research Group in the UK, said not every cloud company is thrilled with Microsoft joining CISPE. 

“There are concerns that Microsoft’s inclusion may create internal tensions with other major vendors, such as AWS. Despite this, the overall impact is anticipated to be a positive step towards fairness in the European cloud market,” Tyler-Clarke said. “Microsoft’s membership in CISPE represents a significant advancement towards fairer licensing practices, enhanced collaboration and the reduction of operational burdens through the suspension of certain licensing audits. This move is expected to foster a competitive and cooperative environment, benefiting both customers and providers.”

AWS’s board representative, Stéphane Ducable, VP for public policy for EMEA at AWS, voted against Microsoft’s acceptance, according to someone familiar with CISPE’s board deliberations. When contacted by CIO, Ducable did not reply, but another Amazon official, Harry Staight, the international policy and media relations lead at AWS, responded, saying “I can confirm we are declining to comment.”

The CISPE statement stressed that the Microsoft representative will not be permitted to vote and will face other restrictions. The company was described as “a non-voting Adherent Member” in the announcement.

“Associate and Adherent Members do not vote and are not eligible to join the Board. They are therefore not able to influence CISPE policy or direction,” the CISPE statement said. “Governance changes agreed at the last General Assembly further strengthen CISPE’s European leadership, mandating that at least 75% of the Board and membership must consist of European businesses.”

CISPE defines a European business as one that has its main headquarters in Europe, regardless of how many European employees, contractors, buildings, or customers the company has in the region, Maynard said.

The statement also quoted CISPE secretary general Francisco Mingorance applauding Microsoft’s membership. “Our capacity to convene the whole market, from hyperscalers to SMEs, whilst retaining European leadership and control is fundamental to our vision of a diverse, distributed, and multi-cloud Europe,” Mingorance said.

Maynard said that Microsoft paid €54,000 ($56,289), 30 percent of the fee for full membership.

Maynard said that Microsoft’s membership “strengthens our reputation and our credibility” because it now has the perspective “of two hyperscalers as members.” 

“If you look at what CISPE delivers, we provide an awful lot of insights and tools and frameworks that allow CIOs to understand the compliance issues around the cloud, policy topics around the cloud,” Maynard said, describing CISPE as both “the voice of cloud operations in Europe” and a cloud “advocacy group.”