Microsoft Wins $10 Billion Department of Defense Cloud Contract

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced late on Friday it had awarded a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), which beat out larger rival Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). The decision surprised observers who considered Amazon Web Services (AWS) to be the front-runner for the lucrative government deal.  

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract set off a contentious battle between many of the biggest names in technology. In addition to Amazon and Microsoft, IBM (NYSE: IBM), Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), and Google parent Alphabet competed for the deal. After the initial review process, only Amazon and Microsoft were determined to meet the minimum technical requirements necessary to be part of the final round of consideration. 

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Source Fool.com