Feb 11, 2020, Beijing — Microsoft today announced a second wave of donations, both in cash and technology support, to fight the Novel Coronavirus in China.
The second round of support raises the company’s total contribution to RMB 45.78 million, including RMB 4.78 million from Microsoft employee cash donations from Greater China Region and the U.S.
The company has also committed more than RMB 40 million worth of products, services and solutions to equip frontline hospitals and medical workers, as well as providing free cloud services and support to enable turnkey work and study-at-home solutions to mitigate the impact of the outbreak for businesses, students and educators, and partners. On January 26, Microsoft provided an initial RMB 1 million donation to relief and containment efforts.
“Microsoft is standing firmly with China in the face of this global challenge,” said Alain Crozier, Corporate Vice President, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Greater China Region. ”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 organizations affected. We will do everything we can to help our employees, our customers and partners to get through this difficult period. It’s just common sense as we work to fulfill Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
Some of Microsoft’s technology donation is going directly to the front lines of the epidemic:
- Microsoft has donated Office for use by Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital and Wuhan Leishenshan Hospital to support communication and collaboration;
- With the help of leading local healthcare industry partners, Microsoft has donated Windows Server Datacenter and SQL Server Enterprise to help complete the IT infrastructure of an emergency specialty hospital in Zhengzhou;
- Microsoft solutions integrated with Surface devices, including Office 365 and Power BI to improve communications and provide data insight – plus a solution to automate environmental disinfection – have been shipped to hospitals in Wuhan, Guangxi, Chongqing and Zhengzhou;
- A Power BI-based epidemic analysis and decision-making platform has been demonstrated to local government authorities and official health commissions in many cities, and is in the process of being deployed;
- 300 volunteer psychological counselors are using SharePoint, OneDrive, and Skype for Business to operate a 24-hour support hotline, to help frontline medical staff cope with the enormous psychological pressure and mitigate traumatic stress;
- Microsoft announced a real-time interactive opensource project for epidemic prevention information and provided free Azure resources to help enterprise customers provide an online epidemic information sharing hub and internal response services.
To help minimize the impact of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak for businesses in China, Microsoft is providing free services and solutions to all Chinese partners and customers. Chinese enterprise customers can now apply for 6 months of free Office 365 E1 International edition. This edition includes Microsoft Teams, which perfectly meets the needs of remote work and education.
For industries and customers with data sensitivity, Microsoft is cooperating with local operating partner 21Vianet to introduce a free 3-month Azure VDI service hosted in China. This PaaS service enables secure and compliant remote access to a unified-managed virtual desktop environment from mobile devices. To help frontline workers solve problems with remote advisors, Microsoft is also making Dynamics 365 Remote Assist International edition available for free download with service at this time.
“Together we stand, with solidarity and a common faith, so that we will overcome any adversity and jointly build a better future,” said Crozier.