Microsoft Sees Promise with AT&T Deal Sealed
In recent news, AT&T announced that they would be using Microsoft’s Azure platform for all of their cloud needs. The partnership bolsters Microsoft’s impact on the industry and can increase its attractiveness as a cloud provider to other telecommunications companies. AT&T additionally stated that they would be using Office 365 suite for their workers, increasing the depth of the partnership between these two tech giants.
Microsoft’s statement noted the multi-year deal with AT&T to be their cloud provider for non-networked software. The agreement aligns with AT&T’s intention to integrate its entire non-network system into cloud architecture by 2024. The deal is likely to make this window more viable for the telecommunication company, and offer the business more flexibility with their custom software running on Azure.
While neither company was willing to commit a figure to the cost of the deal, it was estimated to be around the $2 billion mark. The price tag on this deal bodes well for Microsoft’s cloud computing department since it demonstrates a capacity to secure contracts with big corporations while the other elements of the department are also delivering. Even though Microsoft won’t be the sole supplier to AT&T for their cloud products, the value of what they have agreed on supplying is significant.
Microsoft’s Reinvention Bolsters Investor Trust
The AT&T deal is just one in a series of triumphs for Microsoft. Azure has the second largest market share of public cloud contracts with Amazon’s AWS taking the top spot. In the second quarter of 2019, Azure showed a growth of 73%, demonstrating Microsoft’s ability to adapt to cloud computing. The grandfather of tech offers a service that can compete favorably. With this deal, Microsoft can now be considered a serious competitor in the cloud market. Microsoft’s foothold in this emerging market is a signal to investors that the company is not yet done being an innovator in the computing space.
