INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
The Pentagon wants to replace ageing computer networks with a single cloud
system
The Pentagon has awarded a $10bn (£8bn) cloud-computing contract to Microsoft, following a heavily scrutinised
bidding process in which Amazon had been seen as the favourite.The 10-year contract for the Joint Enterprise Defence Infrastructure, or
Jedi, is aimed at making the US defence department more technologically agile.Amazon's bid drew criticism from its rivals and US President
Donald Trump.The company said it was "surprised" by the decision
A "detailed assessment purely on the comparative offerings" would "clearly lead to a different conclusion", it said.Amazon is said to be
evaluating its options after the decision
It has 10 days to decide whether or not to launch a challenge.In its statement, the Pentagon said all offers "were treated fairly"
What is Jedi? The Department of Defense wants to replace its ageing computer networks with a single cloud system.Under the contract,
Microsoft will provide artificial intelligence-based analysis and host classified military secrets among other services.It is hoped that
Jedi will give the military better access to data and the cloud from battlefields
Is the decision controversial?Amazon had been considered the front-runner - until President Trump began questioning whether the process was
In July he told reporters that he was getting "tremendous complaints about the contract with the Pentagon and Amazon".Image
copyrightReutersImage caption
Microsoft had not been considered the front-runner
He said other companies
had told him that the contract "wasn't competitively bid" and that his administration would "take a very long look" at the process.Mr Trump
has repeatedly criticised Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos - who also owns the Washington Post newspaper - in the past.Dan Ives, managing
director and equity analyst Wedbush Securities, said he expected Amazon and others to challenge the decision in the courts, but called it a
"paradigm changer" for Microsoft
The move was likely to boost Microsoft's share price and bring "significant positive financial implications" for the company in the coming
years, he said.A blow for AmazonBy Leo Kelion, TheIndianSubcontinent Technology desk editorAmazon will be bitterly disappointed to have lost
this contract, having long considered its bid to be the stronger.But after President Trump's comments about "receiving tremendous
complaints" about Amazon's frontrunner status in July, and then the delay to announcing the award the following month, it had always looked
liked Microsoft could pull off an upset.The timing is curious, however, coming just days after Defence Secretary Mark Esper unexpectedly
removed himself from the review process after months of involvement, on the grounds that one of his sons worked for IBM - one of the other
original applicants.It means Microsoft is now set to be a huge recipient of Department of Defense funds.Not only will it benefit from Jedi,
but also a separate multi-billion dollar contract known as Deos
This has run into delays of its own, but is still set to result in the DoD using cloud-based Office 365 for its email, calendar,
video-calling and other productivity software needs
One issue for Microsoft is whether its closeness to the military will cause it problems
Some of its own workers have already objected to it developing a version of its Hololens augmented reality headset for the US military, and
the idea of it now providing machine learning tools and other systems to help "enhance force lethality" could prove to be a PR nightmare.For
Amazon, if the loss of such a lucrative contract is linked to Jeff Bezos's ownership of the Washington Post, it could fuel calls for AWS to
be spun off from its parent and established as a separate company
There had already been speculation this might happen in order to head off regulators' concerns that Amazon already extends too deeply into
Americans' lives.How did we get here?The announcement marked the end of a long process that had pitted tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle
and IBM against each other.As the world's biggest provider of cloud-computing services, Amazon had been the favourite to win Jedi
But its competitors argued that the process was unfair.Image copyrightAFPImage caption
Mr Trump has repeatedly
criticised Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos
Oracle challenged the bidding process in federal court earlier this year,
saying that it was rigged to favour Amazon, but a federal judge dismissed the allegation.What else does the Pentagon say?It said that it had
awarded more than $11bn in 10 separate cloud-computing contracts over the past two years.The Jedi deal "continues our strategy of a
multi-vendor, multi-cloud environment as the department's needs are diverse and cannot be met by any single supplier," it added.In a
statement reported by local media on Saturday, Microsoft said it had brought its "best efforts" to the process and appreciated the
Pentagon's decision to award it the contract
