Walmart and Microsoft team up in potential challenge to Amazon

Microsoft and Walmart are joining forces in a partnership that will see Walmart adopting Azure deject services to "farther advance" its retail digital transformation. Though Walmart already uses some Microsoft services, this expanded partnership will see the company expanding to tap into Microsoft'southward machine learning, AI, and data management solutions across its business.

Throughout the five-twelvemonth agreement, Walmart plans to drift "a pregnant portion" of its online presences at walmart.com and samsclub.com to Azure. Walmart volition also leverage Microsoft'southward IoT solutions for everything from reducing energy usage with its refrigeration and HVAC units to optimizing routes for its supply trucks.

Microsoft 365 will also be rolled out to Walmart associates, giving them access to productivity tools similar Workplace Analytics, OneDrive, and Microsoft Stream.

And in example in that location was any question, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed to The Wall Street Journal (via Engadget) that the 2 companies' rivalry with Amazon is "admittedly core" to the partnership. Though today's announcement doesn't make mention of information technology, Microsoft was recently rumored to be working on a way to utilize its AI to automate checkout at retail stores, with Walmart rumored as 1 of the tech giant's potential partners. If true, Microsoft and Walmart could be setting the phase to challenge Amazon Go, the online giant'south physical store that uses AI to eliminate the need for cashiers and checkout lines.

This is the 2d major partnership announcement to come during the week of Microsoft'southward partner result, Inspire. Yesterday, the company announced it is teaming upward with GE for a set of Azure integrations focused on Industrial IoT applications.

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