Microsoft makes inroads with US spy agencies in cloud-computing dispute

MICROSOFT has secured a potentially lucrative agreement that makes the full suite of the tech giant’s cloud- computing platform available to 17 US intelligence agencies, executives said recently, moving agencies’ computer systems onto Office 365 applications and adding certain cloud-based applications not previously available to them.

The agreement could strengthen Microsoft’s prospects for winning government business at a time when it is locked in competition with some of the world’s biggest tech companies for a Pentagon cloud- computing contract that is expected to be worth billions.

For years, Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon.com that provides cloud computing for businesses and government agencies, has been the primary provider of cloud services to US intelligence agencies, thanks to a US$ 600 million contract with the CIA.

That remains the case after the recent agreement. Still, executives from Microsoft framed the contract agreement as an “awakening.”

“This is a huge win from a Microsoft perspective,” said Dana Barnes, vice president of the company’s joint and defence agencies business unit. “It’s kind of an awakening as far as the intelligence community is concerned that you can’t be a one- cloud community.”

The update came as part of a routine contract renewal between the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and computer provider Dell, which subcontracts government work to Microsoft. Microsoft has for years provided basic computer programs to the intelligence community under contract with Dell, some of which make use of cloud-based technology. But US intelligence officials have not previously had access to the full suite of Microsoft Azure Government cloud services.

A release published by the company said the cloud stores government data itself in eight data centre regions that include no commercial data. Barnes also said the platform has been designed to support different levels of classified data, echoing a cloud storage service released by Amazon last year that is meant to serve a similar purpose.

Microsoft executives said the update could also strengthen the company’s bid for a coming Pentagon cloud computing award. Called the Joint Enterprise Defence Infrastructure (JEDI), the contract has sparked competition among West Coast tech companies and Beltway government contractors. —