European Cloud Competition Observatory (ECCO) is launched by the non-profit trade association Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) to monitor unfair software licensing practices in the cloud market.
The establishment of the European Cloud Competition Observatory (ECCO) is a part of the settlement of CISPE with Microsoft. The settlement was regarding a complaint filed with the European Commission regarding the company’s anticompetitive business practices.
It has been confirmed by CISPE in a press release that “the newly formed ECCO will focus on Microsoft’s adherence to the July 2024 commitments, while monitoring licensing practices impacting both cloud providers and customers.”
ECCO: a new cloud competition regulator
A separate governance structure will be made for ECCO with customer organizations like France’s Cigref and Belgium’s Beltug acting as observers to reflect customers’ perspectives.
The first focus of the European Cloud Competition Observatory will be on Microsoft, and then after there are some more ‘software giants’ on the radar of ECCO that includes- “Broadcom’s VMware”, which is also being accused of anticompetitive business practices in Europe.
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CISPE Secretary General, ‘Francisco Mingorance’ stated “We appreciate Vice President Vestager’s role in establishing ECCO as part of our settlement with Microsoft. ECCO will serve as a watchdog over any software vendors using unfair practices to disrupt the European cloud market, with Broadcom under our current scrutiny.”
ECCO will find unfair software licensing practices in the cloud market, and before organizing a full-blown investigation against the company, it will reveal unfair practices in its report to increase the pressure on companies to address unfair practices.
With the first mission to focus on Microsoft’s CISPE settlement, the first report of ECCO will be released after a December technical summit with CISPE and Microsoft members – further follow-ups are planned for February and April.
