Alain Crozier (Microsoft)
Microsoft has increased cash donations and technology support to customers and partners in China in a bid to help fight the spread of coronavirus.
The second wave of support raises the technology giant’s total contribution to RMB 45.78 million (US$6.6 million), which includes employee cash donations from the vendor’s Greater China and US teams.
In addition, Microsoft has also committed over RMB 40 million (US$5.7 million) worth of products, services and solutions to equip frontline hospitals and medical workers, backed up by free cloud services and support.
“Microsoft is standing firmly with China in the face of this global challenge,” said Alain Crozier, corporate vice president and CEO of Greater China Region at Microsoft.
“On top of cash donations, our teams from Beijing to Seattle are working together around the clock, to lend the power of our technology and platforms to the people and organisations affected. We will do everything we can to help our employees, our customers and partners to get through this difficult period."
Crozier said Microsoft has donated Office for use by Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital and Wuhan Leishenshan Hospital to "support communication and collaboration", alongside Windows Server Datacenter and SQL Server Enterprise offerings to help enhance the IT infrastructure of an emergency specialty hospital in Zhengzhou.
Meanwhile, solutions integrated with Surface devices - including Office 365 and Power BI - have been shipped to hospitals in Wuhan, Guangxi, Chongqing and Zhengzhou, with the vendor also providing technology demonstrations to local government authorities and official health commissions.
Furthermore, 300 volunteer psychological counsellors are using SharePoint, OneDrive, and Skype for Business to operate a 24-hour support hotline.
Specific to the enterprise, customers have been granted access to free Azure resources and can also apply for six months of a complimentary Office 365 E1 International edition, which includes Microsoft Teams.
To cater for industries and customers with data sensitivity, the vendor is collaborating with local operating partner 21Vianet to introduce a free 3-month Azure VDI service hosted in China. The platform-as-a-service (PaaS) is designed to enable "secure and compliant" remote access to a unified-managed virtual desktop environment from mobile devices.
“Together we stand, with solidarity and a common faith, so that we will overcome any adversity and jointly build a better future,” Crozier added.
