Microsoft has announced that it will allow free and unrestricted data transfers outside of its Azure cloud ecosystem for customers who want to switch cloud providers.
The move comes after cloud giants Google and AWS announced they would eliminate egress fees in early 2024. The three appear to be doing so in preparation for the upcoming European Data Law, which seeks to clamp down on blocking. of suppliers to stifle competition. in the cloud market.
Like AWS, Microsoft Azure previously offered the first 100 GB of egress data per month for free to all customers, regardless of which Azure region they were in.
Customers will now be able to transfer an unlimited amount of data from their Azure environment and migrate to another cloud provider as they choose.
Microsoft Blog The post announcing the policy change included a statement about the company's commitment to supporting customer choice and described how customers can migrate their services to the cloud.
Customers who want to move all their data out of Azure will need to create a support request by providing their subscription ID and a rough estimate of the amount of data that will be transferred.
The customer will then have 60 days to submit their data, incurring fees as usual, and will need to cancel all Azure subscriptions associated with the account.
After this, customers can contact Azure support to request an invoice-level credit for the egress fees they paid.
As such, like Google's policy, Microsoft will only allow free cloud migrations to customers who want to switch cloud providers wholesale and cancel all their existing accounts.
AWS, on the other hand, did not include a cancellation requirement for customers to enjoy free data transfers outside the ecosystem.
Microsoft matches AWS and Google, but how big is the cloud lock-in problem?
Microsoft's decision to eliminate exit fees seemed inevitable as its two main competitors in the cloud computing market gained a head start in this regard.
speaking to ITPro Earlier this month, Gartner vice president analyst Sid Nag said he expected Microsoft to follow suit after moves by Google and AWS in this space.
Nag noticed the specific language on Google. advertisement that seemed to point to Microsoft, referring to “overly restrictive contract terms or punitive licensing practices.”
Google hasn't been the only one to highlight the anti-competitive practices of Microsoft's cloud arm; UK communications regulator Ofcom has also flagged the hyperscaler.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into the cloud industry in October 2023.
The announcement highlighted exit fees, provider discounts and technical barriers to switching ecosystems as a key focus for the investigation, referencing an Ofcom report that raised concerns about the licensing practices of some service providers. cloud, “in particular Microsoft.”
Nag suggested this was the ulterior motive behind Google's early action, suggesting the decision had more to do with putting pressure on its competitor, rather than bolstering consumer options in the cloud space.
Lockdown on a cloud provider is not as widespread an issue as many believe, according to Nag, who said moving to a cloud ecosystem is a big decision that requires rigorous planning.
As such, waiving exit fees for mass cloud migrations is not the silver bullet to making a multi-cloud future a reality.
“I think the vendor lock-in story is overblown… you don't move to a cloud without thinking through the move, it's a very well thought out and carefully planned process.”
Nag argued that these moves have more to do with marketing than material improvements for customers, who will still have a lot of configuration and integration work to do when they switch providers.
“Overall, I don't think there is a supplier lock-in issue. It's nice to talk about, but in practice I don't think it will happen, especially in today's world where you don't just randomly jump into a cloud provider without thinking it through,” he explained.
In reality, how often do people actually move or decide to move and then find that fees are a barrier? I don't think that happens much, does it happen? Of course it does. But does it happen wholesale? I do not think it is like that”.
