Microsoft And Hosting Provider OVH To Settle The Dispute Soon

Microsoft appears to be on the verge of reaching an agreement with a number of competing cloud hosting solution providers. In this way, the Group can largely eliminate the threat of antitrust proceedings being sought by its competitors.

As reported by the US business service Bloomberg, citing sources close to the companies involved, Microsoft and the French hoster OVH are currently working towards finding an amicable solution to the threatening EU competition proceedings. Corresponding talks are also currently underway with two other hosting providers from an initiative originally founded with the participation of Amazon against Microsoft’s alleged superiority in cloud services.

Agreement announcement possible this week

As early as this week, OVH, Aruba, and Danish Cloud Community could announce an agreement with Microsoft to drop their antitrust complaints against the US software giant, the report says. The competitors had lodged a complaint with the EU because they accused Microsoft of abusing its market power in cloud services.

The complaints said that Microsoft’s contracts and business practices meant that the company’s customers had little opportunity to switch to other providers. The main topic was the accusation that Microsoft’s cloud services for Azure, Office, Windows, and other products can almost only be used on the Redmond company’s servers, but not on other platforms.

According to the report, a competition complaint filed by Amazon against Microsoft is to be pursued separately in the EU. The two large corporations have been at loggerheads for some time because Amazon is one of the largest international cloud hosters with the AWS Cloud. The company also accuses Microsoft of having achieved a dominant position through its behavior that puts its competitors at a disadvantage.