Microsoft has beaten Amazon AWS and secured a controversial $10 billion contract with the Pentagon to modernize its systems.
“Microsoft Corporation … has been awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a ceiling value of $10,000,000,000 over a period of 10 years, if all options are exercised,” a U.S. Department of Defense statement reads. “The JEDI Cloud contract will provide enterprise-level, commercial Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) to support Department of Defense business and mission operations … The expected completion date is Oct. 24, 2029, if all options are exercised.”
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At one point, Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle were all considering bids for the 10-year Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, with the goal of modernizing the military’s dated cloud computing systems. But Google dropped out of the running because supporting the military with AI was in violation of its corporate principles. And in April, the Pentagon announced that only Amazon and Microsoft met its technical requirements.
Amazon has long been the favorite choice to win this contract, and many expected the Pentagon to split it between multiple companies. But Amazon has come under fire from the erratic U.S. president, apparently because CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, and he has threatened to intervene in the contract choice. It’s not clear if that happened, but Amazon said it was “surprised” by the defeat since “a detailed assessment purely on the comparative offerings [would] clearly lead to a different conclusion.” Sources tell Reuters that Amazon is considering protesting Microsoft’s award of this contract.
Amazon is the dominant player in cloud computing with an estimated 45 percent marketshare, compared to about 25 percent for Microsoft, which has been scrambling in recent years to match the capabilities offered by AWS.
Thom77
<p>I'm sure that the Military Industrial Complex picks who wins their contracts, not a President. Hell, President Trump cant even pull out 28 troops from Syria without all hell breaks loose and sob stories of Kurds who nobody knew existed 1 week ago. Obama ran on an anti-war platform, and bombed seven different countries as President. Something tells me the Pentagon calls the shots, not a President. </p><p><br></p><p>And I can imagine the fact that Amazon is ALREADY contracted with the CIA played some part in the decision. </p><p><br></p><p>The real question now is how this decision snowballs down to other services, like Bing. When will Microsoft get a call from the DoD to censor search results? Amazon stopped hosting the Wikileaks site at the behest of the CIA, oops I mean "Federal Government". What will Microsoft cave to? Will RT now have a warning label on search results in Bing that they are state run media (like Youtube does), while CNN, MSNBC, ABC news, NBC News, and FOX (controlled opposition) keep hiring former spooks as "analysts". </p><p><br></p><p>And does Microsoft's business contracts with Israel pose a security risk or a conflict of interest? </p><p><br></p><p>If Corporations hold the governments data …. whose really in control? </p>
pargon
Premium Member<p>Paul is deleting comments now that don't line up with his political agenda he's constantly pushing? Gee, wonder which side he's on. /sarcasm Maybe if he left his opinion out of every article, commentators would too.</p>
pargon
Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#483759">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p>No he's not trying to keep politics out. He genuinely believes that his opinion is the only one that matters and everyone is phobic of whatever minority is on the agenda that day. He is a hate filled person and now censoring those that respond to his politics, which he is sure to include in almost every single piece he writes these days. </p><p><br></p><p>This should be a tech site, not what it's turning into lately.</p>
pargon
Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#483850">In reply to miamimauler:</a></em></blockquote><p>I am a loving husband and father, never once have I used a public forum that is well read to attack someone personally about their learning issues. Paul has on the other hand.</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#483850">In reply to miamimauler:</a></em></blockquote><p>He has a general negative tone that is for sure. He exaggerates all the time on Windows weekly. </p><p><br></p><p>Just listen to how he describes Windows 10 1809… “DISASTROUS” and they way he says it with so much drama. It sells I guess. </p>
pargon
Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#483854">In reply to Greg Green:</a></em></blockquote><p>He hates trump. I never hated Obama, I disagreed with his policies. Paul is constantly looking for a reason to bring trump into everything and bash him, and half the country that supports Trump for that matter. If that's not hate I don't know what is. Also, his recent trashing of Dona Sarkar. The left promotes hate everyday and Paul is showing his feelings more and more.</p>
pargon
Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#483893">In reply to Sprtfan:</a></em></blockquote><p>Hate is the Left's stance on everything now days. It's really nuts what they've turned into in just 4 years lol. Paul gets triggered all the time and hates on anyone who has a pro American view. He really should be on CNN. Paul seems like a nice guy to his friends and family but he hates half the country and his politics seem to blind him of the fact that they are people and his own countrymen.</p><p><br></p><p>I never reacted to "erratic". I merely said Trump is not being erratic with regards to Amazon. He's been very consistently against them screwing over tax payers because USPS doesn't charge enough. Bezos who hates Trump and uses his new paper against trump has built a trillion dollars business off USPS not charging enough. Trump's stance has not changed on that. </p><p><br></p><p>He absolutely is erratic in many regards. Paul's comment was merely a political attack and not necessary in his article.</p>
pargon
Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#484292">In reply to Sprtfan:</a></em></blockquote><p>Trump was not a Republican or a Democrat. He basically destroyed the Republican party and created a new one with the same name. I don't blindly agree with him. Plenty of things that I disagree with. But that's besides my point. Paul is quick to call anyone that doesn't agree with US policy closely watching China and Huawei as "Xenophobic". I forgot that we're supposed to love giving our data to a company whose communist dictatorship has a 100 year plan for world dominance and is buying up land and debt in the US like crazy. Paul is so out of touch with mainstream America.</p><p><br></p><p>He gets triggered by someone without a "real disability"? WTF? If any republican ever said anything like that they would be hung out to dry. Yet that's perfectly acceptable coming from the left. It's a game of "who can be the most outraged today?" lol. </p><p><br></p><p>The democrat party is imploding and being led by a bunch of socialist morons like AOC, 3 Mansion Sanders and Creepy Joe. It's really a thing of beauty to watch. Can't wait to see Paul's reaction when Trump wins in a landslide.</p><p><br></p><p>This thread keeps getting better and better. </p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#483745">In reply to Pargon:</a></em></blockquote><p>He has a long history of deleting them especially when called out. Thin skinned. If you dont like being called out stick to the tech/facts and keep the snide and political BS out of the conversation.</p><p><br></p><p>He used to make political comments on Windows weekly but I think Leo is shutting that down. I know Jeff Jarvis on their Google show has TDS big time and when he tries to go political they shut him down now. He used to rant on so much I would shut it off. I even dumped my sub to that show because of it. </p>
BrianEricFord
<blockquote><em><a href="#483746">In reply to terry jones:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Erratic is an objective fact.</p><p><br></p><p>Furthermore, no one who isn’t a Trump supporter would say that the news surrounding this isn’t his desire to thwart Amazon’s bid. (And, frankly, I’m surprised his supporters would deny it rather than their usual celebration of his erratic behavior.)</p>
BrianEricFord
<blockquote><em><a href="#483937">In reply to terry jones:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Then start your own tech forum and/or move on. </p><p><br></p><p>Your point went sailing over my head because it was so light on useful content.</p>
BrianEricFord
<blockquote><em><a href="#483906">In reply to codymesh:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Thank god this thread got so stupid.</p>
Stooks
<p>Trump 2020!!! :)</p><p><br></p><p>I have no doubt politics played a role in this, but honestly it always does and has for a very long time in all government contracts. </p><p><br></p><p>Personally I am not a fan of Amazon and this ok by me. </p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#484004">In reply to awright18:</a></em></blockquote><p>Microsoft already has huge US government Office365 contracts. </p><p><br></p><p>The department of Interior just dumped G suit in September for Office 365 moving 85,000 users over to Office 365. Also over the summer the US military chose Office 365 over G suit which is millions of seats. </p>
pargon
Premium Member<blockquote>Maybe paul was describing himself. I've never seen someone bitch and moan about cellphones so much as Paul and he pays what seems to be thousands of dollars each year to switch 2 or 3 or 4 times for the latest and greatest phone…..all while decrying the price and swearing he isn't rich. Must be nice to be the coastal elite!</blockquote>