Riigi IT preps European escape plan as it herds civil servants into Redmond's cloud

An Estonian government IT agency is trialling European alternatives to US software providers, even as it moves many of the country’s civil servants to a centrally-managed cloud computing service provided by Microsoft.

Ergo Tars, the director of Riigi IT (RIT), told the country’s national broadcaster ERR that it has no plans to ditch Microsoft or other US-based suppliers but wants to be prepared in case it is forced to do so.

Tars said it was possible the European Union could decide that US technology products were no longer trustworthy.

“In that case there would not be much difference whether it is Microsoft, Amazon, or Google. Then we would have to look purely at Europe-based products,” he said.

Tars said he had discussed dependence on US IT infrastructure with his counterparts in other European countries over the last year, and was developing a European alternative that could be ready ...