Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily news and commentary show, hosted by Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the Cloud.
In this Cloud Wars Minute, Bob Evans explains the Pentagon’s hybrid-cloud approach to what was formerly known as its JEDI contract.
Highlights
00:34 — One of the largest cloud computing contracts ever awarded is from the Pentagon. For the past several years, the contract was thought of as a single-source approach awarded to Microsoft, Amazon, or another major Cloud Wars company.
00:59 — The contract, called the JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) contract, was awarded to Amazon, leading Microsoft to appeal in court. The appeal ruling turned the contract over to Microsoft, leading Amazon to appeal.
01:14 — On the procurement side of things, a single-source approach would not work. On the real world side, the world is in a multicloud era. It is the responsibility of the cloud provider to collaborate with each other and make something work; this is the new approach the Pentagon is taking.
01:47 — The $9 billion multi-year deal is now being divided among Amazon, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Oracle and is called the JWCC (Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability).
02:15 — Bob thinks this approach optimistically brings the Pentagon and its capabilities into the modern era, giving the U.S. military the chance to have the best of what these four technology companies offer.
02:37 — Many months ago, Bob suggested that the single-source approach would not work, noting that the only way it would is through a multicloud approach. It is fantastic that the Pentagon decided to follow this route.
