Amazon's AWS and Google big winners of Israel's $1.2 billion milestone cloud project

The Israeli government announced on Wednesday that it has chosen Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google for the $1.2 billion project to provide cloud services for the country's public sector and military. Calcalist revealed the likely outcome of the tender at the end of March.

Amazon and Google beat out Microsoft, Oracle and IBM in the tender for the four-phase project known as "Nimbus", the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. Oracle and Microsoft both appealed to the courts over the past week in an attempt to delay the announcement.

AWS and Google will establish local cloud sites in Israel with an initial investment of NIS 4 billion ($1.2 billion). These sites will keep information within Israel's borders under strict security guidelines.

The four phases of the project include acquisition and construction of cloud infrastructure, formulating government policy for migrating to the cloud, integration and migration, and control and optimization of cloud activity.

Nimbus is a multi-year flagship project intended to provide a comprehensive solution for the provision of cloud services to the government, the defense system and other groups in the economy, the ministry said.

According to the Accountant General’s website, “Project Nimbus is intended to provide a thorough and comprehensive reference for the provision of cloud services for the Israeli government. The project will include a number of levels, which will offer a response to create a cloud services supply channel and to draw up government policy on the subject, migration to the cloud, and modernization of services, control, and optimization of activity in the cloud.”