AT&T gets Microsoft and IBM to help with its cloud homework

US telco AT&T has decided it’s time to raise its cloud game and so has entered into strategic partnerships with Microsoft and IBM.

The Microsoft deal focuses on non-network applications and enables AT&T’s broader strategy of migrating most non-network workloads to the public cloud by 2024. The rationale for this is fairly standard: by moving a bunch of stuff to the public cloud AT&T will be able to better focus on its core competences, but let’s see how that plays out.

IBM will be helping AT&T Business Solutions to better provide solutions to businesses. The consulting side will modernize its software and bring it into the IBM cloud, where they will use Red Hat’s platform to manage it all. In return IBM will make AT&T Business its main SDN partner and general networking best mate.

“AT&T and Microsoft are among the most committed companies to fostering technology that serves people,” said John Donovan, CEO of AT&T. “By working together on common efforts around 5G, the cloud, and AI, we will accelerate the speed of innovation and impact for our customers and our communities.”

“AT&T is at the forefront of defining how advances in technology, including 5G and edge computing, will transform every aspect of work and life,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “The world’s leading companies run on our cloud, and we are delighted that AT&T chose Microsoft to accelerate its innovation. Together, we will apply the power of Azure and Microsoft 365 to transform the way AT&T’s workforce collaborates and to shape the future of media and communications for people everywhere.”

“In AT&T Business, we’re constantly evolving to better serve business customers around the globe by securely connecting them to the digital capabilities they need,” said Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO of AT&T Business. “This includes optimizing our core operations and modernizing our internal business applications to accelerate innovation. Through our collaboration with IBM, we’re adopting open, flexible, cloud technologies, that will ultimately help accelerate our business leadership.”

“Building on IBM’s 20-year relationship with AT&T, today’s agreement is another major step forward in delivering flexibility to AT&T Business so it can provide IBM and its customers with innovative services at a faster pace than ever before,” said Arvind Krishna, SVP, Cloud and Cognitive Software at IBM. “We are proud to collaborate with AT&T Business, provide the scale and performance of our global footprint of cloud data centers, and deliver a common environment on which they can build once and deploy in any one of the appropriate footprints to be faster and more agile.”

Talking of the US cloud scene, the Department of Defense is reportedly looking for someone to provide some kind of Skynet-style ‘war cloud’ in return for chucking them $10 billion of public cash. Formally known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (yes, JEDI), this is designed to secure military and classified information in the event of some kind of catastrophic attach, contribute to cyber warfare efforts and enable the dissemination of military intelligence to the field.

It looks like the gig will be awarded to just one provider, which had led to much jostling for position among the US cloud players. The latest word on the street is that either AWS or Microsoft will get the work, which has prompted considerable moaning from IBM and Oracle and reported concern from President Trump, prompted by politicians apparently repaying their lobbying cash. Here’s a good summary of all that from Subverse.