Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp and Google are involved in a bidding process to provide cloud services to planemaker Boeing, the Information reported on Thursday.
The multi-year deal is expected to be worth at least $1 billion over several years, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Boeing already operates a hybrid IT model, shifting some of its workloads to AWS and Azure from around 2011.
In 2016, it moved closer to Microsoft, partnering on Advanced Aviation Analytics, and other cloud programs.
But like all older large enterprises, it has amassed a large data center footprint, including some picked up through multiple acquisitions. In 2015, it said it was seeking to consolidate its operations to three key facilities — in the Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and one on the East Coast.
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Web hosting company Hostway also operates a data centre at Boeing International’s worldwide headquarters, but it is a colocation facility open to other customers.
With more than 140,000 staff, the company’s IT needs are immense. A Boeing 787 generates an average of 500GB of system data a flight, much of which is stored and used to help improve efficiency and safety.
But such data gathering does not make up for other safety measures. The company in 2019 cut out thousands of quality inspection checks, leading to a series of “technical miscalculations and troubling management misjudgments,” a congressional investigation found following the crash of two 737 Max planes.
