IBM, which had put in a competitive bid, protested the contract. It said it was going to appeal this court decision, too. But a few days ago, IBM officially gave up the legal fight, reports Federal Computer Week's Frank Konkel.
From court documents we learned that
This win for Amazon is a game-changer in the cloud industry. It marks the first time Amazon will build a so-called "private" cloud. That means Amazon's cloud tech will be used only by the CIA and not shared with other companies.
Amazon is the biggest "public" cloud player, where many companies share the same computing equipment. Companies like IBM compete with Amazon by saying that Amazon isn't as reliable or secure. The CIA contract proves that one of the world's most secretive agencies thinks otherwise.
But IBM doesn't have to lick its wounds much. It's still winning a lot of government business including a 10-year deal to build a cloud for U.S. Department of the Interior worth up to $1 billion.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.