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EU taps Microsoft, Accenture, Comparex to boost public cloud services

The European Commission says the companies will form a consortium which will prove cloud services in the IaaS and PaaS sectors.
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer

The European Commission Directorate-General for Informatics (EC DIGIT) has inked a deal with Microsoft, Accenture and Comparex to provide their expertise in public cloud service schemes.

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Announced on Wednesday, the EC said the companies will form a consortium -- with Microsoft as a subcontractor -- to "enable access to new cloud and digital capabilities for public services."

The contract is for two years with the option to extend.

Under the terms of the deal, the consortium will work in two areas; one for infrastructure as a service (IaaS) capabilities, and a second for platforms as a service (PaaS) capabilities. Cloud technologies used will mainly be the Accenture Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.

"The Accenture Cloud Platform running Microsoft Azure technology met all EU requirements for a secure hyper-scale public cloud capability," the organization said.

See also: Windows 10 telemetry secrets: Where, when, and why Microsoft collects your data

The contract award followed an open-market call for companies to come forward with proposals and proof companies met with EC DIGIT's security and technical requirements.

Dany Delepierre, managing director of Accenture's Health & Public Service practice in Belgium and Luxembourg commented:

"This collaboration between Accenture, Comparex and Microsoft will enable European institutions to procure cloud services in a fast, convenient and flexible way.

The Accenture Cloud Platform will deliver enhanced flexibility and governance while facilitating the secure development of new applications and the transfer of existing applications into the cloud."

Accenture already delivers IT services to several EU Institutions, including eu-LISA and the Taxation and Customs Union Directorate General.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced revealing Oracle had purchased Ravello Systems, a company which specializes in virtualization and cloud software.

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