Microsoft opens UK datacenters for Office 365 and Azure

Microsoft has announced that local datacenters are now available in the UK to Office 365 and Azure customers. This enables companies dealing with UK-only customers to ensure that data remains within the country and fully complies with data protection and privacy laws.

Describing itself as the "first global cloud productivity provider" to offer UK residency for data, Microsoft says Azure and Office 365 are now generally available from multiple data center locations in the UK. It has already attracted the custom of the Ministry of Defence.

Microsoft's new data centers are located in London, Durham and Cardiff and will be in a position to handle sensitive data from all manner of public sector bodies. It's something that will be welcomed by privacy advocates, as the openings mean that Office 365 can be used online without having to send any data overseas.

Announcing the openings, Microsoft says:

Today, reflecting our deep and continued commitment to make Office 365 the most trusted cloud service for productivity, we are announcing the general availability of Office 365 from multiple local datacenters in the United Kingdom. We are pleased to be the first global cloud productivity provider offering UK data residency for core customer data at rest.

Since October 2014, we have rapidly expanded our global cloud footprint and opened new datacenter regions in Japan, Australia, India, Canada and now the U.K. In addition to the highly secure productivity capabilities already enjoyed by Office 365 customers all over the world, these new data center regions add in-region data residency, failover and disaster recovery to help effectively address the legal, regulatory and compliance needs of customers in industries like banking, government, public sector and healthcare.

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