After much anticipation, the US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract for cloud computing services to Microsoft over Amazon. This effort is crucial to the Pentagon’s efforts to modernize core technology and improve networking capabilities, and the decision on which cloud provider was the best fit was not something taken lightly.

Current military operations run on software systems and hardware from the 80s and 90s, and the DoD has been dedicated to moving forward with connecting systems, streamlining operations, and enabling emerging technologies through cloud adoption.

Microsoft has always been heavy to invest back into their products, the leading reason we went all-in on our partnership, strengthening our capabilities and participating in numerous Microsoft programs since the inception of the partner program in 1994.

In our experience, one of the many differentiators for Microsoft Azure is its global networking capabilities. Azure’s global footprint is so vast that it includes 100K+ miles of fiber and subsea cables, and 130 edge locations connecting over 50 regions worldwide. That’s more regions across the world than AWS and Google combined. As networking is a vital capability for the DoD, they’re investing heavily in connecting their bases and improving networking speeds, data sharing, and operational efficiencies, all without sparing security and compliance.

Pioneering Cloud Adoption in the DoD

We are fortunate enough to have been on the front lines of Azure from the very beginning. AIS has been working with Azure since it was started in pre-release under the code name Red Dog in 2008. We have been a leading partner in helping organizations adopt Azure since it officially came to market in 2010, with the privilege of experience in numerous large, complex projects across highly-regulated commercial and federal enterprises ever since.

When Azure Government came along for pre-release in the summer of 2014, AIS was among the few partners invited to participate and led all partners with the most client consumption. As the first partner to successfully support Azure Gov IL5 DISA Cloud Access Point (CAP) Connectivity and ATO for the DoD, we’ve taken our experience and developed a reliable framework to help federal clients connect to the DISA CAP and expedite the Authority to Operate (ATO) process.

We have led important early adoption projects to show the path forward with Azure Government in DoD, including the US Air Force, US Army EITaaS, Army Futures Command, and Office Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Our experiences have allowed us to show proven success moving DoD customers IMPACT Level 2, 4, 5, and (soon) 6 workloads to the cloud quickly and thoroughly with AIS’ DoD Cloud Adoption Framework.

To enable faster cloud adoption and native cloud development, AIS pioneered DevSecOps and built Azure Blueprints to help automate achieving federal regulation compliance and ATO. We were also the first to achieve the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) and DoD Cyber Security Service Provider (CSSP), among others.

AIS continues to spearhead the development of processes, best practices, and standards across cloud adoption, modernization, and data & AI. It’s an exceptionally exciting time to be a Microsoft partner, and we are fortunate enough to be at the tip of the spear alongside the Microsoft product teams and enterprises leading the charge in cloud transformation.

Join Our Growing Team

We will continue to train, mentor, and support passionate cloud-hungry developers and engineers to help us face this massive opportunity and further the mission of the DoD.