Brexit vote had 'no impact on the decision' to open UK data centres, says Microsoft

But it's "too early to say" where the uncertain data privacy situation may lead, company admits

As Azure and Office 365 roll out natively across the UK in regionalised data centres today, Microsoft's UK COO told Computing that while "it's too early to say" what Brexit will mean for GDPR and UK data privacy law generally, the referendum result had "no impact on the decision" to open UK data centres.

Speaking to Computing as data centres in Cardiff, Durham and London swing into action today, UK COO Nicola Hodson said that Microsoft is looking to "upgrade the digital fabric in the UK".

Asked whether the Brexit vote caused the company to review its plans, Hodson replied: "No, it didn't... It's too early to say where [UK privacy rules] will go, but [Brexit had] no impact on the decision."

Hodson explained that Microsoft will "continue to comply" with GDPR "across EU member states", reminding Computing that Microsoft was the first cloud provider to adopt both Article 29 and ISO 27018.

"We have a set of principles that we design into a cloud around security, privacy, compliance, transparency and availability, which we will continue to do, and we'll just have to wait and see how all that [Brexit] dialogue unfolds," she said.

"But those principles are integral to what we do."

Microsoft's CVP of Office 365, Ron Markezich, said that Microsoft was "the first to support EU model clauses of any cloud provider".

"And even when we did that, we worked very closely with the data protection authorities across the EU.

Security aside, Hodson said Microsoft hopes its UK cloud services will "create an opportunity for 25,000 partners and for UK customers to look at their own digital transformation, to create new business models, to create more jobs and to provide better citizen services".

"We think it will give them the opportunity to save money, be more productive and also to meet their compliance and policy requirements in the UK."

Markezich added that Microsoft's cloud services are now "really driven by Office 365 and Azure", with Office 365 uptake up 54 per cent over the past year, and the Azure business doubling in size over the same period.

Hodson said Microsoft's new UK data centres will offer "world-class reliability, enterprise-grade services and the ability to run hybrid services in [Microsoft] cloud".

"That in general is very cost-effective for [customers] and often provides a better level of security than they've been used to before," said Hodson.

"If you then add in the data residency aspect for customers [in areas such as the] public sector, that offers additional benefit when meeting compliance and policy requirements, and so it creates opportunities for a wider range of customers who may not yet have had the chance to take up the opportunity in the public cloud."