Could AWS Snatch JEDI Away from Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft’s Azure division is chomping at the bit to start major work on the JEDI project, but now there may be another hitch in the timeline. Meanwhile, two channel-friendly companies dedicated to cloud management and governance are making news partners will want to know. Check out the news below.

Amazon Really Might End up with JEDI

On the heels of news that a federal judge has seen fit to question the award of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project to Microsoft Azure, comes word that the Department of Defense may be rethinking its October decision.

According to The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other outlets, the Pentagon is requesting 120 days from a federal court to “reconsider” some criteria.

There is a chance that means AWS could land the $10 billion cloud computing initiative.

“We are pleased that the DoD has acknowledged ‘substantial and legitimate’ issues that affected the JEDI award decision, and that corrective action is necessary,” an AWS spokesman told the Post in a statement. “We look forward to complete, fair, and effective corrective action that fully insulates the reevaluation from political influence and corrects the many issues affecting the initial flawed award.”

AWS continues to contend that President Trump influenced the outcome of the award to Microsoft because he has a public beef with Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos.

Microsoft, not surprisingly, disagrees. A spokesman told the Post and New York Times that Microsoft believes the DoD made the “correct decision” in awarding JEDI to Azure.

“However, we support their decision to reconsider a small number of factors as it is likely the fastest way to resolve all issues and quickly provide the needed modern technology to people across our armed forces,” the spokesman said.

What happens next remains to be seen.

CoreStack Brings Venture Funding to $13 Million

CoreStack, a cloud governance startup founded in 2016, said on Tuesday it has secured an $8.5 million round of Series A funding.

That brings the Seattle-based company’s total so far to $13 million.

Naya Ventures led the latest round and the firm’s managing director, Dayakar Puskoor, will join CoreStack’s board of directors as a result.

CoreStack’s Ezhilarasan Natarajan

CoreStack, which sells through channel partners including resellers, MSPs and ISVs, says it will use the new infusion of money to expand sales, marketing and product development. CoreStack specializes in cloud governance and management, covering aspects including service consumption and cost, and metrics and compliance.

“As enterprises rapidly embrace cloud as a part of their digital transformation initiatives, there is an increasing need for continuous and autonomous governance across compliance, security, operations, cost and consumption,” Ezhilarasan Natarajan, CEO of CoreStack, said in a press release. “The financial partnership and enterprise expertise of Naya Ventures as well as the continued support of Z5 Capital and other investors will immensely help to accelerate the execution of our vision.”

Research firm Gartner placed CoreStack in the 2020 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Management Platforms and named it as one of…