A five-year agreement was signed between Microsoft and Walmart that will see the latter retail giant exclusively roll out Microsoft's services across its properties. A significant portion of Walmart's online presence at walmart.com (opens in new tab) and samsclub.com (opens in new tab) will be migrated to the Azure platform, and Microsoft's IoT solutions will be deployed to save energy and costs.
Walmart doesn't necessarily have the best reputation among consumers, and some people are rather skeptical about the deal, including community member Lobo Technician:
Hey folks, so I came across this article stating that Microsoft will be partnering with Walmart, in order to become its exclusive Clound and Software services provider (Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365). Walmart establishes strategic partnership with Microsoft to further accelerate digital innovation in retai I have mixed feelings about this, I am not the greatest fan of Walmart due to...
Lobo Technician
I believe the deal is a solid one for Microsoft, which has further pushed its cloud platform as other projects and businesses were killed off. Azure is big, but not quite on the same scale as Amazon's Web Services (AWS). Tying up partnerships like this may lead to more customers from other big brands.
Walmart already uses some of Microsoft's products, but the retailer is interested in applying some of Microsoft's machine learning, AI, and data management solutions across its business. And for Microsoft to take down Amazon, it's going to need partners.
What do you think about the new deal? Head to our community forum and join the discussion!
Rich Edmonds is Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him over on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.
