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Microsoft teams up with SpaceX for the cloud (against Amazon)

4 years ago babelfish

Microsoft teams up with SpaceX for the cloud (against Amazon)

Microsoft will work with SpaceX to connect the Azure cloud to the satellite internet service provided by Musk's Starlink constellation. Open challenge to the Amazon giant also in the space sector.

Star Wars between Microsoft and SpaceX against Amazon. Microsoft will partner with SpaceX to connect the Azure cloud computing network to the Starlink satellite Internet service offered by Elon Musk's company. The Wall Street Journal first reported this on Tuesday.

Azure Space and the new partnership configure Microsoft and SpaceX to further compete with Jeff Bezos' Amazon and Blue Origin businesses, which have announced plans for similar satellite services and more.

Also on Tuesday, the Redmond giant announced the establishment of its Azure Space unit, based on the launch of Azure Orbital.

The partnership with Elon Musk's aerospace company comes as Microsoft expands into the space industry. A few weeks ago, in fact, the technological giant unveiled a new service called Azure Orbital to connect satellites directly to the cloud.

In particular, Azure Orbital and the new partnership with Starlink will allow both Microsoft and SpaceX to further compete with Jeff Bezos' businesses. The e-commerce giant Amazon offers a service to connect its AWS cloud to satellites. Bezos is working on a rival Starlink service called Kuiper, as well as personal investment in the Blue Origin initiative.

But it doesn't stop there. In early October, SpaceX won a $ 149 million contract from the Department of Defense Space Development Agency to build four satellites to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. And Microsoft will be a subcontractor for this contract .

All the details.

WHAT SPACEX AND MICROSOFT WILL DO TOGETHER

"The collaboration we announce today will allow us to work together to deliver new offerings for the public and private sectors to provide connectivity via Starlink for use on Azure," SpaceX President and Coo Gwynne Shotwell announced in a video captured by CNBC .

"Where it makes sense, we will work with Microsoft: co-selling to our mutual customers, co-selling to new businesses and future customers."

THE SPATIAL EFFORT OF MICROSOFT

Microsoft is "deeply focused on governments and defense," Tom Keane, vice president of the company, told the WSJ. The space effort, he said, provides an opportunity "to bring commercial technology and innovation to the military."

In addition to the partnership with SpaceX, Microsoft is collaborating with the Luxembourgian satellite operator SES. The company will also connect its O3b satellites to Azure, in addition to the services SES is providing for Azure Orbital.

As we said, the partnership with SpaceX comes a few weeks after the announcement of the new Microsoft service called Azure Orbital to connect satellites directly to the cloud.

SPACEX SUBCONTRACTOR FOR THE CONTRACT WITH SDA

“We are delighted that Microsoft will join our team,” added SpaceX's Shotwell. "We will deliver to the government a number of satellites that house a ballistic weapon protection capability," he added. "Microsoft will do a lot of work as a subcontractor."

The reference is to the first government contract for the construction of satellites. The aerospace company founded by Elon Musk will build four satellites under the United States Space Development Agency (SDA) contract.

The SDA satellites, which will be delivered by September 2022, will have a “wide field of view” high-end persistent infrared sensor capable of detecting and tracking advanced missile threats from low Earth orbit. However, Shotwell did not currently specify what specific role Microsoft will play in the SDA program.

AT WHAT POINT IS THE STARLINK CONSTELLATION

To date, SpaceX has launched over 800 Starlink satellites ( including the latest deployment of 60 satellites completed on Sunday ) – a fraction of the total needed for global coverage but sufficient to begin providing services in some regions, including in the northern United States. westerners.

Elon Musk's company has already launched nearly 300 new Starlink satellites since June and is planning to launch at least two more lots next month.

Additionally, Starlink is being tested internally by SpaceX employees and technicians, and the company is preparing for a larger public beta to be tested later this year.

A 15 BILLION DOLLAR MARKET

Microsoft and SpaceX have therefore opted for a partnership so as to join forces against the common rival Amazon. Some analysts have predicted that total space-related cloud services revenues could amount to about $ 15 billion by the end of the decade.

AMAZON: COMMON ENEMY FOR MICROSOFT AND SPACEX

But space is just the latest arena in which the two cloud giants (Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud division) go head-to-head.

According to the consulting firm Canalys, in 2018 four companies managed to conquer 61% of the market: Amazon Web Services (32%), Microsoft Azure (17%), Google Cloud (8%) and the Chinese Alibaba Cloud (4%) ).

Amazon continues to lead the growing cloud computing market, with 45% in 2019, while Microsoft has about 18%, according to technology research firm Gartner.

Microsoft is currently the second largest cloud company in the world but Amazon is the leader with over a third of the global market.

As the WSJ recalled, the pandemic has intensified competition as companies accelerate their move to the cloud and must choose vendors in multi-year contracts.

At the same time, military and intelligence agencies are increasing spending on a number of space projects.

Like Microsoft's Azure Orbital service, Amazon launched Aws Ground Station two years ago, which allows satellite operators to control their spacecraft via the cloud.

Last June Web Services announced the formation of a dedicated business unit, Aerospace and Satellite Solutions, to offer cloud services to support space and launch operations.

Also Amazon is working on a SpaceX Starlink competitor called Kuiper, in addition to Bezos' personal investment in the Blue Origin initiative. Founded in 2009, the company had the objective of organizing tourist trips in Space by 2020.

THE BATTLE FOR THE JEDI PROJECT

Finally, the two cloud giants have been competing for a maxi government contract. Microsoft and Amazon have also competed for the maxi Jedi (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) contract to modernize the Pentagon's cloud structure.

Last February, a federal judge temporarily blocked the deal the Defense Department awarded Microsoft (after a turbulent race as Start recounted ) while examining Amazon's appeal.

But earlier this month the Pentagon reconfirmed Microsoft as the winner, after completing a full reassessment of the proposals received.

The contract could be worth up to $ 10 billion for services rendered over 10 years.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/microsoft-si-allea-con-spacex-per-il-cloud-contro-amazon/ on Tue, 20 Oct 2020 14:10:32 +0000.