CSP and Multi-Geo

[SweMikBoh]

Hi everyone!

Does anyone here know if the Multi-Geo functionality in MS365 is available through CSP?

Everywhere I look it says the customer need EA, but my customer says another reseller claims it is included in CSP offerings.

[ClaudioStallone]

News about the GA of CSP Multi-Geo add-on:

[SweMikBoh]

Thanks for sharing!

But isn't Q2FY23 already over? MS released their financial results recently, for their Q2 of 23?

[NickatTheta]

I believe the slide was incorrect, and it should read Q2CY23.

So hopefully April to June '23 timeframe.

[SweMikBoh]

Right, let's hope for that. Thanks.

[AhmedAbouelela]

Hello,

I have just purchased multi-geo, I am getting the below - any reason why?

SPOGeoMoveCrossCompatibilityStatus

SourceDataLocation DestinationDataLocation CompatibilityStatus
------------------ ----------------------- -------------------
YYY XXX Incompatible
XXX YYY Warning

[JanoschUlmer]

@AhmedAbouelela : Not sure, and this community might not be the best place to discuss technical problems setting this up, at least this issue should go into a new thread since it has nothing to do with multi-geo being available in CSP. A relevant technical community would be here: Multi-Geo Capabilities - Microsoft Community Hub

Usually, once multi-geo was added a tenant, it takes some time until it is enabled in the tenant.

Also I recommend to review the configuration guidance: Microsoft 365 Multi-Geo tenant configuration - Microsoft 365 Enterprise | Microsoft Learn

[sanjay_mistri]

Hi @JanoschUlmer , i am sure you have been asked this many times, and apologies in advance, however have you heard any more around what date multi-geo in CSP is expected to land?

[JanoschUlmer]

@sanjay_mistri : Only thing I can say I expect that more detailed timeline can be shared in the upcoming months. 

[ashishmalhotra1]

multi geo*

[ashishmalhotra1]

Hi,

Is multi-goe add-on active for NCE?

[JanoschUlmer]

@ashishmalhotra1 No, not available yet (and I don't have information on ETA)

[ClaudioStallone]

In the future with CSP NCE, Multi-Geo will also be available. However, there is no exact date for this yet or it would not be known to me yet.

Here is the info:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/announcements/2022-january#5

[tuan]

Is there a "work-around"?  Or at least a data when Multi-geo will be available to CSPs?

I have a US customer that acquired another company in Canada, India, and Mexico.

Their preference is to stay with us as their CSP provider vs going to an EA.  But without multi-geo, that mean the customer would have to be setup in 3 different CSP (one in each region) with 3 different tenants and domain names.  Note, there is  no compliance issues, like data sovereignty compliance.

The desire is to have all employee under one domain, regardless if in US, CA, IN, or MX.

Is it OK to setup the customer to buy all licenses in the US CSP for all their employee vs splitting them.

[JanoschUlmer]

@tuan : To add on your question if it is OK to buy all licenses in the US - as US Partner you can only sell to an US customer tenant. The customer entity owning this tenant is allowed to assign licenses to users in their company and to affiliates, this is documented in the MCA. Thus the answer is it is OK to buy all licenses for all users the customer and their affiliates have sitting globally via US.

[jfarlow]

Hello @JanoschUlmer . I have heard that we may have multi-geo in the next quarter. Can you confirm that is the plan? We have a customer that has US presence and needs to provision multi-geo licenses for the Latvia location to comply with GDPR. Let me know when I should follow up for an update.

Thanks!

[JanoschUlmer]

@jfarlow : There is the plan to launch it as soon as possible, but this plan also was to have in 2022 already - so I can't confirm the timeline you mentioned will be held true. 

Note GDPR compliance does not require this  - Having data located outside of europe is allowed as per the GDPR, it just has special requirements and data transfer needs to be goiverned by EU standard contractual clauses, as it is the case with Microsoft - see DPA for details. And the DPA also says that regardless where the tenant location is, Microsoft will adhere to the GDPR principles for any EU user data.

And by using multi-geo you also don't prevent that some customer data is flowing outside of the EU (like support data, data of some products not included in multi-geo functionality). Only the EUDB effort would prevent data transfers completely, but again this is not something required for GDPR compliance: What is the EU Data Boundary? - Microsoft Privacy | Microsoft Learn

However, I know that bringing in multi-geo into the discussion with concerned customer may ease the discussion, so I understand why this is being asked for 🙂

[ClaudioStallone]

HI @tuan 

No, not available yet (and I don't have information on ETA)

[haley]

Yes, I had seen that. Can't believe the timing of this merger! A few months down the road we would probably be moving forward without a glitch but I'm pretty much in limbo right now.

[haley]

Do any of you know where I could go to get an EA? My client merged with two other international companies and  they need multi geo for healthcare compliance. I've put in numerous tickets with Parter Center and no one can direct me to the right resource.

[JanoschUlmer]

@haley : For info on how the customer can sign an EA, you would need to contact a LSP - Licensing Solution Provider. You can search for this here:https://appsource.microsoft.com/

Unfortunately there is no way to filter specifically for LSP as service. You need to search for Partner using the term and check if they describe on their profile that they sell EA. There are usually only a few LSPs per region.

Honestly, if the client can wait a bit, I would recommend to wait for this being available in NCE - going with a LSP might have the risk the customer switches completely to EA.