Microsoft is pursuing major cloud deals with foreign governments in the mould of the highly lucrative Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud infrastructure project that it secured last year.

Although elements of the contract in the JEDI cloud infrastructure project, worth $10 billion over ten years, are still not fully settled, the industry giant is increasingly keen to pursue similar deals outside of the US.

The company is indeed in the process of signing deals similar in shape to the cloud infrastructure project assembled for the US Department of Defense, according to people familiar with the matter speaking with CNBC.

This has come after overseas governments have begun to show an interest in replicating the type of relationship that Microsoft has formed with the Pentagon. Microsoft, specifically, has staffed the project with people who hold security clearances and has committed to delivering existing products and services, as opposed to specifically-built technologies at a customised price.

However, the company’s move to focus on more government contracts comes at a time when its JEDI contract work has been put on hold due to a legal challenge from Amazon. The rival cloud company is especially aggrieved as it feels the contract was awarded unfairly.

This conscious evolution in Microsoft’s cloud strategy will likely be formally announced later this year, a source told CNBC, with overseas intelligence agencies and militaries set to be key customers. Another source said the firm had already established JEDI-like cloud contracts with foreign governments, although it’s not clear which countries are the main focus.

“We’ve worked with governments around the world on a longstanding and reliable basis for four decades,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC.

“We have government customers using our products to enhance their services with the latest in commercial innovations, deeply engage and connect with citizens in powerful ways, and empower government employees with the modern tools they need to be more efficient and effective, and to give them time back to focus on their agency mission.”

The JEDI work is currently on hold while the Pentagon re-examines elements of the contract, which Amazon said were ridden with errors and which a judge suggested may not comply with current standards. The Pentagon was due to finish the examination last week, on 17 August, although it requested a 30-day extension earlier in the month, according to Nextgov.

The UK government has established a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HPE that will allow public sector organisations to adopt a pay-per-use model when acquiring hybrid cloud services for digital transformation.

The MoU, agreed between HPE and the government’s Crown Commercial Service (CCS), will allow to public sector bodies to take advantage of preferential rates when seeking a third-party provider for cloud services. 

«Despite the growth of cloud strategies in the public sector, many organizations have struggled to move business-critical applications to the public cloud, due to application entanglement, data gravity, security and compliance, and unpredictable costs,» said vice president and GM UK&A at HPE Pointnext Services, Sue Preston. 

«By leveraging HPE technologies, like HPE GreenLake, public sector organizations can reduce complexity, boost innovation and bring cost efficiency to their digital transformation efforts.»

Qualifying organisations can benefit from minimum agreed discounts on a range of HPE systems and platforms, including HPE GreenLake cloud services, Aruba enterprise networking and security products, as well as HPE’s storage and compute technology. 

The agreement also gives public sector bodies access to HPE’s pay-as-you-use cloud model in their own data centres, at the edge, as well as at facilities such as Crown Hosting Data Centres. Organisations can also use the full extent of GreenLake services, including its pre-integrated configurations of varying sizes.

«CCS provides commercial agreements which help organisations across the entire public sector save time and money on buying everyday goods and services,» said the chief executive of CCS, Simon Tse.

«This Memorandum of Understanding with HPE not only provides great value for public sector organisations, it also allows them to innovate more readily and improve services for the citizens they serve.»

This is the fourth such arrangement that the CCS has struck with cloud service providers over the last few months, as part of the One Government Cloud Strategy. This venture offers public sector bodies comprehensive guidance on pursuing cloud-powered digital transformation projects. 

MoUs have previously been established with Google Cloud, UKCloud, and most recently with IBM to give public sector bodies a number of options when looking for digital transformation services from a third-party provider.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made its Amazon Braket cloud-based quantum computing service generally available to all customers following a successful trial launch.

Quantum computing power provided by industry leaders including D-Wave, IonQ and Rigetti can be accessed through AWS, with customers able to experiment with quantum algorithms and advanced simulations.

Amazon Braket was first unveiled in December 2019 as the first of three new quantum computing services, with Braket giving scientists, researchers and developers the tools to experiment with quantum computers in a single environment.

Alongside Amazon Braket were the AWS Center for Quantum Computing, which brings together expertise from Amazon and academic institutions to collaborate on research, as well as Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab. This final stream is a programme that connects customers with quantum computing experts and consultants to identify practical uses for the technology.

“Last year I told you about Amazon Braket and explained the basics of quantum computing, starting from qubits and progressing to quantum circuits,” said chief evangelist for AWS, Jeff Barr. “During the preview, AWS customers such as Enel, Fidelity (Exploring Quantum Computing with Amazon Web Services), and Volkswagen have been using Amazon Braket to explore and gain experience with quantum computing.”

“I am happy to announce that Amazon Braket is now generally available and that you can now make use of both the classically-powered circuit simulator and quantum computers from D-Wave, IonQ, and Rigetti.”

Users can access Amazon Braket through a notebook-style user interface (UI), where they can create notebook instances to run processes using quantum hardware. Pricing will be based per-task, with an additional per-shot charge specific to the type of quantum hardware that users take advantage of. Use of the simulator also incurs an hourly charge, billed by the second, with a 15-second minimum. 

Quantum computing, heralded as a major technological breakthrough, is still in its early stages of development and therefore hasn’t yet delivered on its immense promise. The term for when quantum computing overtakes classical computing in terms of power is known as ‘quantum supremacy’, which Google claimed to have achieved earlier in the year.

The significant potential is anchored in the way it relies on qubits to make calculations. These are quantum bits that exist as neither 1 or 0 as in classical computing, but a ‘quantum superposition of 1 and 0’, existing in both states simultaneously. While two bits tied together take the form of 00,01, 10 or 11, two qubits exist in all four states simultaneously. 

Tying several hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of qubits together could therefore offer the potential to perform calculations at lightning speeds, where it may previously have taken a long time.

One of the challenges in reaping the benefits of quantum computing is making it accessible to companies and developers, which is where services like Amazon Braket and IBM Quantum Cloud come in.

VMware has discontinued Datrium’s hyperconverged infrastructure DVX hardware line “effective immediately” a little over a month after acquiring the disaster recovery specialist.

Datrium will stop accepting orders of Datrium DVX hardware from new customers, with existing customers able to make additional purchases up to 31 October 2020, according to an email distributed to Datrium customers, circulating on Reddit.

This ‘last time buy’ programme limits purchases to D12x10D, D12x4C and F24x2D hardware with the DaOS 5.1 operating system only. Existing customers can also renew support up to 31 October 2022, with a maximum support term ending a year later.

Versions of the DaOS operating system earlier than DaOS 5.0, meanwhile, will no longer be supported by VMware beyond 31 October, meaning customers will have to upgrade their systems.

Versions beyond DaOS 5.0 will be supported with critical functionality and security fixes, although customers should no longer expect any new features or added functionality. 

“Unless otherwise agreed to under your maintenance and technical support terms with Datrium, we will continue to provide maintenance and technical support through the end of your current support services period (inclusive of existing support contracts that expire after Oct 31, 2023), which may be amended by Additional Purchases and Support Renewal Order as permitted above,” the letter reads.

“Datrium DVX hardware support will be limited to the existing hardware configurations. Firmware fixes cannot be offered if the components are past end-of-support by the 3rd party component hardware vendor.”

VMware announced plans to acquire the disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) provider in a bid to expand its current VMware Site Recovery portfolio in early July. Datrium has been insistent the integration of its technology and platforms into VMware’s offerings will feed into efforts to help customers build hybrid clouds by combining the infrastructure of VMware Cloud with Datrium DRaaS.

Although specialising in DRaaS, Datrium had long-hoped to make waves in the hyperconverged infrastructure market, especially with its DaOS operating system and DVX hardware. With its hardware being discontinued, and versions of the operating system before DaOS 5.0 no longer supported by the parent company, this will be a disappointment to customers who’ve invested in Datrium’s product ecosystem.  

IT Pro approached VMware for confirmation on its post-acquisition plans.

Video conferencing platform Zoom has introduced a swathe of new features that aim to «liven up your meetings» including filters, reactions, improved lighting capabilities and better background noise suppression. 

Users can choose from a variety of virtual backgrounds, as before, as well as a set of fresh video filters and toggles to alter their appearance while in conversation with their friends, family or colleagues. 

Filters to change the colour or set it to black and white or sepia have been rolled out to add more of a «casual» tone to virtual meetings, which countless workers have had to engage in due to office closures and lockdowns. Zoom also added filters that add unicorn horns, pirate eye patches, or aerospace goggles to participants. The filters can be configured in the settings.

«We believe that people connect better on video, but feeling connected when working from home is still challenging,» Zoom said in a blog post. «The casual and fun elements that bring us together in the office seem to be missing from virtual meeting culture … until now.»

«Zoom wants to empower you to feel your best in virtual meetings, express your individuality, and build moments of fun into your day with some new features that uplevel your video game,» the company added. 

The move appears to address a serious issue with video conferencing fatigue that many remote workers have felt since lockdown began. Research shows that continuous video conferencing leads to weariness due to the way such technology has disrupted the way we naturally communicate with each other.

As part of Zoom’s changes, users can also exert more control over the lighting of their frame, which can make a difference to people who work in rooms that aren’t  well-lit. 

Another useful new addition is improved noise suppression, which can drown out background noise such as building works or children playing, for example. The low setting will allow for soft background music or audio, while high background noise suppression will apparently provide distraction-free audio for important meetings and presentations.

Users delivering presentations can also adjust their virtual background to overlay their frame over slideshows, allowing them to move the video feed to any part of the screen and even resize the window.

The drive to add more fun is significant given the platform’s origins as a business-to-business video conferencing service and could be a nod to the millions of consumers that have flocked to the system during COVID-19. 

Indeed, several other platforms, including Teams and Facebook, have instigated several major platform changes in order to keep up with the Zoom surge, with Zoom’s latest changes perhaps a means of trying to stay on top of the competition.

Image courtesy of Zoom

SAP has partnered with HPE to make its HANA Enterprise Cloud available on-premise for the first time through HPE’s infrastructure as a service (IaaS) GreenLake platform.

The partnership will allow customers to keep their SAP software configuration and data on-premise while benefiting from the flexibility of the cloud experience, including the subscription-based model that GreenLake is distributed through.

HPE will supply, install and manage customers’ infrastructure, while SAP will contribute their software through the SAP HANA database, including the full SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud catalogue of apps. These will include both SAP S/4HANA and SAP BW/4HANA.

A recently introduced change to the way the Firefox browser handles cookies is said to be breaking a number of websites, including the gov.uk platform, with web developers being urged to re-examine their web code.

Mozilla is changing the default value of the SameSite attribute in the Firefox browser from ‘none’ to ‘lax’, meaning the browser will withhold cookies on cross-site requests unless the user navigates to the URL from an external site.

According to reports on GitHub, services on the gov.uk platform are not usable following the SameSite changes, with users experiencing broken elements or pictures missing, for example, on affected sites.

Malware that has remained undetected for six months is exploiting misconfigured Docker API ports to launch malicious payloads, while abusing the Dogecoin cryptocurrency blockchain in the process.

The malware, known as ‘Doki’, is targeting misconfigured containerised environments hosted on Azure, AWS, and a number of other major cloud platforms, according to Intezer researchers, with attackers able to find publicly accessible Docker API ports and exploit them to establish their own containers.

Orange and Google Cloud have announced a strategic partnership that will cover data, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing services.

Google Cloud will contribute its expertise in cloud, analytics, and AI tools, while Orange will use the help of Google technologies to manufacture a state of the art data analytics and machine-learning platform.

Targeting the B2B, B2C, and wholesale markets, the partnership aims to provide “flexible, secure and cutting-edge solutions”, as well as take advantage of the 5G rollout in Europe by developing edge computing services.

The partnership is expected to benefit Orange by expanding its Orange Business Services’ portfolio, while Google Cloud is hoping the deal will strengthen its presence in Europe. 

Orange and Google Cloud are also planning to jointly create an Innovation Lab, which will enable new industry solution development based on data and AI, as well as a Centre of Excellence that will provide training in data, AI and cloud services for several thousand Orange employees.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the partnership “will help pave the way for new advanced cloud and edge computing services for the telecommunications industry in Europe”. 

“We look forward to working together with Orange to bring new services and applications to customers and businesses alike, while also continuing to grow our support for European enterprises in their digital transformation journeys,” he added.

In a statement, Orange chairman and CEO Stephane Richard said that the French telecom giant is “pleased to partner with Google to accelerate its data and AI transformation and continue towards a better service for its customers”. 

“Google has been a long term partner of Orange and, as Google is eager to invest in Europe – and especially in France – to develop new data centres, this is the perfect time to work on new services and opportunities in French and European markets”, he added.

The news comes weeks after Google Cloud signed a letter of intent with Deutsche Bank, revealing plans to sign a multi-year contract within the next few months. The partnership will accelerate the German bank’s cloud migration and transform its IT architecture, including optimisation of the bank’s current systems in a phased approach.

Google is planning to allow its 200,000 full-time and contract workers to continue remote working until at least July next year due to the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai decided to extend Google’s remote working plans to the middle of 2021 following a meeting with senior company executives last week, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

«To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we’ll be extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office,» Pichai wrote in a memo, as reported by CNN. 

«I hope this will offer the flexibility you need to balance work with taking care of yourselves and your loved ones over the next 12 months.»

The move to keep Google employees working from home for another full year, on a voluntary basis, would represent a reversal against its plans to begin re-opening company offices in a limited capacity from this month. 

The company announced in May that it would start to open more offices in more cities from 6 July, giving workers the chance to return to a sense of normality, so long as health and safety measures were in place.

Developments with regards to the continued spread of coronavirus across the US has seemingly forced the company’s hand in scrapping these plans and extending the work from home option for another year.

Google’s measures have come after fellow tech rivals, including Facebook, announced permanent changes to their work culture which includes a degree of remote working. 

The social media giant told workers in May, for example, that half of its staff would work from home permanently by 2030. Twitter, similarly, has told its employees they can choose to work from home indefinitely as the coronavirus crisis continues to reshape the way we work.