Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, has just revealed that Microsoft, through its newly created Microsoft Philanthropies department, will dedicate over one billion dollars’ worth of Microsoft Cloud Services over the next three years to assist universities and non-profits as part of a new three-year commitment.
“Microsoft is empowering mission-driven organizations around the planet with a donation of cloud computing services — the most transformative technologies of our generation,” said Nadella in the official announcement. “Now more than 70,000 organizations 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.”
This new initiative will make Microsoft products and services such as Microsoft Azure, Power BI, CRM Online, and the Enterprise Mobility Suite, more available to non-profit organizations, building upon similar programs already in place that grants non-profits access to the Office 365 suite of products. The Microsoft Cloud Services for non-profits will rollout beginning this spring and within three years plans to include up to 70,000 organizations.
The Microsoft Azure for Research program is also expected to expand by 50% from its current 600 research projects to assist even more groups with free Azure storage and computing resources and Microsoft Philanthropies and Microsoft Business Development will continue to develop more new low-cost last-mile Internet access technologies and community training in at least 15 countries.
“We’re committed to helping non-profit groups and universities use cloud computing to address fundamental human challenges,” announced Microsoft President, Brad Smith. “One of our ambitions for Microsoft Philanthropies is to partner with these groups and ensure that cloud computing reaches more people and serves the broadest array of societal needs.”
Microsoft is well-known for helping communities and organizations through their technological know-how and massive pool of resources such as seen in Botswana where the company assisted hospitals in gaining access to telemedicine services through the implementation of TV broadcast-based cloud computing.
