Reflecting the investment Microsoft is making in cloud computing in Europe, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and president Brad Smith on Monday shared new details about how this momentum is taking shape. The remarks came at the start of a four-day trip to Europe to meet with leaders in Ireland, France, Germany and the UK.

Nadella stated that Microsoft has more than doubled its cloud capacity in Europe in the past year, noted that the company has invested over $3 billion (USD) across Europe to date, and shared that Microsoft intends to deliver the Microsoft Cloud from datacenters in France, starting in 2017.

Microsoft's bif clients in Europe include the UK Ministry of Defence, the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Ireland’s Health Service Executive and ZF from Germany.

In an effort to make cloud more trusted, Microsoft also released a new book titled "A Cloud for Global Good." Topics include next-generation skills, enhancing security and privacy in the digital age, environmental sustainability and keeping communities safe.

"We continue to invest heavily in cloud infrastructure to meet the growing demand from European customers and partners," said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. "Building a global, trusted, intelligent cloud platform is core to our mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. There’s never been a better time for organizations across Europe to seize new growth and opportunity with the Microsoft Cloud."

Microsoft announced plans to offer Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365 from multiple datacenter locations in France. Initial availability is anticipated in 2017. Today, Microsoft offers customers across Europe a range of regional Microsoft cloud services, including recently announced generally available Microsoft Cloud services from datacenters in the United Kingdom (Microsoft Azure and Office 365) and Germany (Microsoft Azure with Office 365 planned for early 2017), with the latter offering a first-of-its-kind model in Europe where access to customer data is controlled by a data trustee, T-Systems International, an independent German company and subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.

The investments, including datacenter hubs in the Netherlands and Ireland, which continue to expand, together with locations in Austria and Finland, according to Microsoft.