Major vendors share $9B federal cloud contract

CNN reports that Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Oracle have been named by the U.S. Department of Defense as the winners of the federal cloud computing deal offering up to $9 billion in funding. The contract, which will provide at least $100,000 in guaranteed funding for the winning firms, seeks to bolster the military's cloud services across all security domains and classification levels until the middle of 2028. U.S. military personnel worldwide would gain the capability to access classified information from the cloud under the contract, which could also strengthen military intelligence on possible threats, according to Defense Department Chief Information Officer John Sherman. "Leveraging U.S. companies that are world leaders on this is what we absolutely have to have to be able to stay ahead of these pacing challenges. This puts us where we need to be as a Department of Defense and protecting what we need to protect," said Sherman.