Microsoft announced a Cloud deal with AT&T for supporting the telecom company for the deployment of Microsoft’s Azure cloud service for its computing needs and using Microsoft 365.
Microsoft and AT&T will also work together on edge computing, which will see Microsoft technology deployed alongside AT&T’s 5G network for applications. The multi-year deal is worth more than $2 billion, Reuters reported.
The agreement is a major win for Microsoft, which will become AT&T’s “preferred” cloud vendor and is fighting to gain market share from Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services, the biggest provider of public cloud services.
AT&T will remain responsible for its own core networking operations for cell phones and other devices. John Donovan, chief executive of AT&T Communications, said the deal is a shift for the telecommunications provider to become “public cloud first,” meaning that it will predominately rely on data centers built by others to power the rest of its business.
Microsoft will gain a partner to sell its edge computing services, which will help software developers write programs for situations like factories whose machines are fitted with sensors to collect data or retail stores fitted with sensors and cameras to help keep inventories up to date.
The deal between Microsoft and AT&T came a day after AT&T said that its AT&T Business Solutions unit will tap IBM to help modernize its software for the cloud and move it back and forth across data centers.
