Israel has awarded its Nimbus cloud tender to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud. The companies have been chosen to implement the project which will provide the cloud infrastructure for the digital transformation of Israeli government ministries and authorities as well as the Israel Defense Forces from localized computer infrastructures to the cloud.
Once AWS and Google have paid the fees for the tender, they will set about establishing cloud sites around Israel at an estimated cost of NIS 4 billion. The cloud services will be provided at cloud sites in Israel where data will be processed and maintained within Israel under the strictest data security regulations overseen by the relevant government authorities.
The project includes four parts: purchasing and building the cloud infrastructures, formulating government policy for migrating to the cloud, integrating and migrating to the cloud, and implementing control and optimization of cloud activities.
The two losing companies in the tender - Microsoft and Oracle - waged a public relations campaign in efforts to change the decision, which included a telephone conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier this month, they submitted an administrative petition to the court to extend the date for challenging the results of the tender.
The defeat for Microsoft in the tender marks the end of an era in Israel in which the government used Microsoft's services in a way that also influenced the entire economy. The results of the tender will also influence the ecosystem, which Microsoft has built around it, including the biggest companies in Israel's IT sector, who employ tens of thousands of people, and have prospered over many years because of their partnership with Microsoft.
Many feel that Microsoft thought that the tender would be done deal and the comp[any didn't work seriously on it and others say the outcome of the tender was due to arguments between Microsoft and the government in recent years over software licensing.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 21, 2021
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