Microsoft just launched new cloud features that will help it meet the requirements of JEDI, the $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon that it famously won over Amazon Web Services last year. It will also help Microsoft's cloud customers in the government work remotely even as they handle data that's classified Top Secret.
More specifically, Microsoft on Monday announced Azure Government Top Secret regions, and says that it's working with the federal government on the final stages of accreditation to use this service to store highly-classified data.
Launching this service has entailed building new data centers that meet the necessary governmental standards, as well as networking capabilities and virtual desktop tools that will allow workers to securely access that data from anywhere.
JEDI, the Joint Infrastructure Defense Infrastructure project, will see Microsoft modernize the Department of Defense's IT infrastructure over the next 10 years. Microsoft says that these new Azure announcements will go to work in serving the needs of the JEDI contract, while also highlighting what the company can do elsewhere in the public sector, too.
"JEDI is an example of a contract where we can use all these capabilities," Tom Keane, corporate vice president of Azure Global at Microsoft, told Business Insider.
The JEDI deal, it should be noted, is still contested: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft's chief rival in the cloud market, has argued in an ongoing lawsuit that the contract was not fairly awarded because of political interference related to President Donald Trump's feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The Department of Defense has stood by its decision to award the contract to Microsoft.
Regardless, Microsoft sees Monday's Azure announcements as a way to help governmental agencies keep up with the need for remote work during the coronavirus pandemic.
"What COVID has shown, and it's especially true for government customers, years of transformation occur in months," Keane said. "In most agencies, COVID has accelerated their cloud journey."
Already, Microsoft has been working with government organizations for over 40 years, and the Department of Defense already uses several of Microsoft's cloud services, including its collaboration app Microsoft Teams.
Earlier this year, Microsoft's Azure Government Secret cloud was authorized to handle Impact Level 6 data, meaning it has received the highest level of clearance from the Defense Information Systems Agency to store sensitive government data – matching Amazon Web Services as the only other cloud provider to receive this authorization.
"Supporting the government is a critical industry for us as we work with customers in the United States and around the world," Keane said. "We're obviously very customer focused on what we're doing. We make investment choices, and we think about how we can help customers."
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