It’s been an exciting week here in Cloud News. Verizon Communications announced that AWS would be undertaking the migration of over 1,000 applications to the public cloud, primarily using a product called Amazon Aurora. This is a dramatic expansion of Verizon’s usage, and hardly comes as a surprise. Many believe that this will push other communications companies into moving to the cloud, and with a deal of this size in their pocket, AWS will have a leg up on it’s competition.
Also in Amazon news this week, a 3D VR and AR modeling tool goes live. Amazon Sumerian is a browser based platform that allows users to build cloud native applications without extensive coding or design knowledge. The closed beta for Sumerian opened late last fall, and while many of the use cases for the program are in the entertainment industry, there are a few that break the mold. Fidelity Investments is one such company, a financial services corporation that created a VR application allowing users to interact with a personal assistant and current stock information in a three dimensional environment. Sumerian also integrates with many of AWS’ other offerings, including Amazon Lex, Polly, AWS Lambda among others. All of the app’s core functions run on AWS Cloud infrastructure, which paves the way for further VR, AR, and 3D integration in the cloud.
Microsoft is getting a head start on government cloud deals, as they sign a 6 year agreement with the US Intelligence Community. The agreement will allow Microsoft to administer Azure Government Cloud, Office 365, and Windows 10 to all 17 IC agencies. Some of the agencies involved include the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. While not related to the much anticipated JEDI contract currently being bid on for the Pentagon, some speculate that signing this deal could indicate Azure is more equipped to compete than previously assumed.
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