Europe in the cloud crisis: Anexia fights for digital freedom!

Europe in the cloud crisis: Anexia fights for digital freedom!

The Austrian cloud provider Anexia is the focus of a dramatic dispute with the US technology group Broadcom. Anexia CEO Alexander Windbichler reported that the company was being blackmailed by the multibillion-dollar corporation. Broadcom, the eleventh largest company in the world, took over the crucial software company VMware and presented Anexia with massive challenges. Two days before Christmas 2023, Broadcom unannounced long-term contracts and increased prices for new products by up to twelve times. This approach would have sidelined Anexia and its customers, with drastic cost increases of several million euros per year, as Windbichler emphasized to the Kleine Zeitung.

But Anexia resolutely resisted this coercion. An emergency response team was formed and the entire organization mobilized to develop a solution based on so-called “open source” technology. In an extremely intense race against time, around 400 employees worked hard to reject Broadcom's pressure. On April 30, 2024, just 14 minutes before the deadline, Anexia managed to exit this urgent situation. Windbichler highlighted that this fight for independence is important not only for Anexia, but for the entire European cloud landscape. “Today no one can dictate anything to us,” he said.

European sovereignty is crucial

However, Windbichler warns that the entire EU remains extremely vulnerable as dependence on US cloud providers remains. In an emergency, this could have devastating effects as the systems could be turned off by political decisions in the USA. “If the cloud systems are switched off, we will all become fully aware of Europe’s dependence,” said Windbichler. He emphasizes that critical infrastructures that are essential to the functioning of society, such as cloud services, cannot be neglected. The Anexia boss is therefore calling for more measures to strengthen European sovereignty in the IT sector. “Market-dominant software must be able to be operated on European cloud providers at fair prices without dependence on the software providers,” he explained, in order to prevent a similar scenario in the future.

By skillfully handling this crisis, Anexia has not only secured its own existence, but also sent an important message for Europe: sovereignty and independence in the digital space are essential to mastering future challenges. This clearly shows how critical the situation is in the European digital sector as the dependence on US technologies continues Small newspaper highlighted again. The call to strengthen Europe's cloud infrastructure couldn't be more timely, as is the case crown emphasized.