US tech giant Oracle has signed a new cloud agreement with the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) to replace legacy technology systems with the firm’s Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
The stated goal of the agreement is for the MoD to modernise its capabilities, which will include the increased incorporation of AI capabilities and “more effective use of critical data” in the name of national security.
The government department said that by becoming an “AI-ready organisation” and treating data as a “strategic asset” it can improve the effectiveness of its global military operations.
“The OCI agreement strengthens the long standing strategic relationship between MoD and Oracle, and reflects the MoDs multi-vendor strategy to leverage the best available technologies to deliver operational outcomes and greater efficiency,” said Victory Cope, commercial director at the MoD.
“This agreement also includes a commitment to digital skills development, education and social value investment supporting the wider Defence and UK Government agenda to build a digitally skilled workforce”.
The MoD has worked closely with the Larry Ellison-founded group, which holds a strategic Tier 1 supplier status with the department.
“The UK MoD is moving quickly to use data and AI in far more sophisticated ways to strengthen national security for UK citizens,” said Jason Rees, senior vice president of technology engineering at Oracle EMEA.
“Migrating workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure will allow it to do this rapidly and at scale, without complicated and costly rewrites.
“The MoD will benefit from OCI’s in-built security and AI solutions, providing a resilient foundation for faster innovation, improved decision making and mission ready capabilities”.
