Faults
with Microsoft's cloud computing platform have knocked many third-party sites
offline, as well as disrupting the US firm's own products.
Microsoft
Azure's status page says problems began at 00:52 GMT across the globe. Its
European operations are taking the longest to fix.
Access
to Microsoft's Office 365 online suite of apps and its Xbox Live gaming
facility are among services affected.
The
faults could set back the company's efforts to sell Azure.
Microsoft
is attempting to make gains on the market leader, Amazon Web Services, as well
as IBM, Google and others offering rival products.
Their
pitch is that
