Aerospace company Boeing has inked three new cloud agreements with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft, as it seeks to rid itself of outdated legacy systems.
The company said its partnerships expand and grow on existing relationships with each cloud provider, creating a single foundation for the company’s approach to cloud computing in the years ahead.
Boeing stated that most of its applications are now hosted and maintained through on-site servers, managed by the company or external partners. Many legacy systems are ageing, create infrastructure challenges, require considerable work to maintain, and can be a barrier to developing and deploying digital solutions across the company.
By expanding its current cloud infrastructure, the hope is this will allow for more ownership within teams, the opportunity to simplify processes, and create easier and more secure access to information, the company said. Boeing added it also aims to empower its developers to perform their best, helping them to develop applications nimbly.
“These partnerships will strengthen our ability to test a system – or an aircraft – hundreds of times using digital twin technology before it is deployed,” said Susan Doniz, Boeing chief information officer and senior vice president of Information Technology & Data Analytics. “Our partners will help Boeing take advantage of the best the industry has to offer while enabling employees to tap into leading tools, training, and experts to improve skills and learn new ones.”
“One of the biggest challenges to traditional hosting solutions is scalability – predicting, procuring, maintaining and paying for servers before a developer ever writes a single line of code,” added Doniz. “Cloud adoption unlocks those challenges by allowing developers to tap into additional storage or capacity when they need it. It’s like having a nationwide broadband network and we’re still using dial-up.”
Boeing hasn’t explicitly specified how it plans to work with each of the three cloud companies. Doniz said that the company’s work with AWS will help advance its people, products, and services by enabling everyone with the latest tools, technology, and expertise.
For the partnership with Microsoft, she added that it will help Boeing realise its cloud strategy by removing infrastructure restraints, properly scaling to unlock innovation, and further strengthen its commitment to sustainable operations.
As for Google Cloud, it hopes to support Boeing’s cloud transformation by migrating applications to the Google Cloud. It aims to help Boeing design applications and create new products too, but failed to mention any specific projects.
