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Here’s how the Pentagon pleases Google, Amazon, Oracle and Microsoft on the cloud

1 year ago babelfish

Here's how the Pentagon pleases Google, Amazon, Oracle and Microsoft on the cloud

The Pentagon split the $9 billion cloud computing contract between tech giants Google, Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft after canceling the previous Jedi contract (exclusively awarded to the Redmond giant). Facts, numbers and insights

The Pentagon does not displease any big cloud tech.

The US Department of Defense has split a $9 billion contract for cloud computing services between Google, Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft for the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC). Jwcc is the multi-cloud successor to the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (Jedi) IT modernization project to build a large common commercial cloud for the DoD.

In 2020, the Pentagon said it would reevaluate its decision to award the deal to Microsoft. And he formally canceled his Jedi contract last year, starting afresh with a new race as part of the JWCC. "While the Trump administration wanted to concentrate the cloud computing program under one vendor, Joe Biden's administration chose to split it into multiple groups as many private sector companies do," notes the Financial Times .

This time, the idea is to rely on multiple public clouds, rather than just one, as the previous Jedi project envisioned.

All the details.

THE SEPARATE AGREEMENTS ASSIGNED TO GOOGLE, AMAZON, ORACLE AND MICROSOFT

On Dec. 7, the Pentagon awarded a multi-procurement consisting of four contracts with a shared ceiling of $9 billion for its key military cloud computing backbone, the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC).

The separate contracts run through 2028 and will provide the Department of Defense with enterprise-grade and globally available cloud services across all security domains and classification levels.

This deal could put the military more in line with private sector companies, many of which split their cloud computing work among multiple vendors.

AFTER THE JEDI PROGRAM COMPETITION CANCELLED

The Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability initiative, or JWCC, represents a new path for the US military that would rely on multiple cloud service providers, rather than just one. This was the strategy the Pentagon had initially sought to use with the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract. The Pentagon awarded the contract to Microsoft in 2019, a deal potentially worth $10 billion over 10 years.

THE MICROSOFT-AMAZON BATTLE

However, the program became mired in a legal battle after Jeff Bezos' behemoth filed an appeal accusing then-President Donald Trump of bias .

In 2020, the Pentagon said it would reevaluate its decision to award the deal to Microsoft. In July 2021, the Pentagon formally canceled the $10 billion Jedi contract at the center of the legal battle between Microsoft and Amazon. When Microsoft was awarded the contract, it was a surprise. Most analysts expected the contract to go to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's market-leading cloud division.

Therefore, with the cancellation of the Jedi contract last year, the Pentagon started afresh with a new tender under the JWCC.

“We are honored to be selected for the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract and look forward to our continued support for the Department of Defense,” an Amazon Web Services spokesperson said Thursday. "From the enterprise to the tactical edge, we stand ready to deliver industry-leading cloud services to enable the Department of Defense to achieve its critical mission."

AND THE FOREGOING ORACLE AND GOOGLE MATTERS

Without forgetting that in the previous Jedi competition the other big names in the race had also raised questions. Oracle had claimed that the single vendor contract was unfair, so much so that in August 2019 the company announced plans to appeal the US Federal Claims Court judge's decision awarding the Pentagon's $10 billion cloud computing contract. dollars.

Different path for Google: the Mountain View giant had withdrawn its offer in 2018 following a staff protest as the project could have violated company principles for the ethical use of artificial intelligence.

So by awarding the JWCC project in lots to the four vendors, the Pentagon is pleasing all four tech companies.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ecco-come-il-pentagono-accontenta-google-amazon-oracle-e-microsoft-sul-cloud/ on Tue, 13 Dec 2022 06:07:12 +0000.