Microsoft pledges $1b in cloud computing resources to benefit nonprofits and universities

NGOs will be allowed to access Microsoft‘s Azure data centres “to develop and run their applications”, while the Enterprise Mobility Suite will be offered to non-profits to manage their apps, data and devices over multiple platforms.

Satya Nadella has said in a statement that, with this new program, Microsoft hopes to help organizations and governments “use the public cloud for public cloud”, so in the end, it’s an effort that could support people everywhere.

Microsoft announced today a new plan to donate $1 billion worth of cloud computing services to nonprofits, charities, and universities over the next three years, alongside a new plan to bring broadband to underserved areas.

“Now more than 70,000 organisations will have access to technology that will help them solve our greatest societal challenges and ultimately improve the human condition and drive new growth equally”.

Microsoft chief legal counsel Brad Smith said the massive computing power available in the cloud can help researchers mine insights and secrets from data.

“In Nepal, after the devastating quake there last April, disaster relief workers from the United Nations used the public cloud to collect and analyze massive amounts of data about schools, hospitals and homes to speed up access to compensatory entitlements, relief packages and other assistance”, Nadella points out.

Regarding cloud resources for faculty research in universities, Microsoft Research and Microsoft Philanthropies will expand by 50 percent the Microsoft Azure for Research programme that grants free Azure storage and computing resources for faculty.

The philanthropic move comes as Microsoft continues adapting to a trend of people economically renting software as services in the Internet cloud instead of buying and installing programs on their machines.

Microsoft Philanthropies intends to support 20 of these projects in at least 15 countries around the world by the middle of 2017.

Those cloud services include the Microsoft Azure computing cloud and the Office 365 cloud productivity suite, both major Microsoft products and the focus of much of the company’s strategy.

In recent years, as organizations have increased their reliance on cloud computing, Microsoft has worked in partnership with a broad range of organizations focused on big challenges.