Microsoft teams up with Amazon for FAA cloud contract

It’s well known that government agencies need to streamline their services and the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has gone to the cloud to solve their data needs. In a lucrative $108 contract commissioned by the agency, the Amazon Web Service (AWS) and Microsoft Azure cloud services will be used to consolidate the agency’s data.
With competitors on their heels, this partnership is a huge change of tack for the two leading cloud computing providers who are normally competing against each other on contracts. It is unknown how the data will be divided up amongst each service or even why the FAA didn’t choose just one service. However, it’s a win for both parties as the deal could be worth $1 billion dollars if all goes to plan. Meanwhile, the FAA will get flexible and secure web hosted data at a reduced storage cost.
Cloud computing is beginning to gather steam with Microsoft Azure growing in popularity by 88 percent in the last quarter and the company hopes it will soon be worth $6.3 billion annually. With a strategy statement of “Mobile first, Cloud first” Microsoft has invested heavily in this particular area and it’s good to see it finally begin to pay off.