Microsoft Announces Major Cloud Partnership With AT&T

Microsoft is announcing a major, multiyear partnership with AT&T today. Microsoft will be playing a huge role in AT&T’s public-cloud first transformation, which will involve the company offer services that run on Microsoft’s cloud.

The huge deal between both the companies will see AT&T moving its non-network infrastructure applications to Microsoft Azure. The deal will also see AT&T moving its workforce to Microsoft 365, which is a huge win for Microsoft.

Ultimately, both the company hope the new partnership will allow them to integrate their emerging technologies together. Microsoft is more specifically focusing on AT&T’s 5G network and its own edge-computing technology. “Microsoft will tap into the innovation AT&T is offering on its 5G network, including to design, test, and build edge-computing capabilities. With edge computing and a lower-latency 5G connection enabled through AT&T’s geographically dispersed network infrastructure, devices can process data closer to where decisions are made,” the company said in a blog post.

The deal is reportedly costing AT&T a whopping $2 billion, according to TechCrunch. Both the companies didn’t disclose any of the financial details for the partnership, though. “The world’s leading companies run on our cloud, and we are delighted that AT&T chose Microsoft to accelerate its innovation. Together, we will apply the power of Azure and Microsoft 365 to transform the way AT&T’s workforce collaborates and to shape the future of media and communications for people everywhere.” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

AT&T moving its workforce and some of its services to Microsoft’s services is undoubtedly a massive win for Redmond. Microsoft’s cloud business has already been excelling, and its Office/Microsoft 365 business isn’t doing any worse, either. So this new $2 billion deal is another huge boost.