The Defense Department announced its intent to begin moving classified data and applications to Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Secret Region, a cloud environment developed specifically for the CIA and intelligence community, according to Next Gov.

The move comes after Microsoft withdrew its bid protest on March 8, citing that “any issues [Microsoft] had with the deal were resolved” to the company’s satisfaction.

Amazon originally developed its $600 million computing cloud in the summer of 2014 with the goal of servicing all 17 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community.

The deal ushered in a new era of cooperation and coordination, Government Executive reported at the time, allowing agencies to share information and services easily and avoid the kind of intelligence gaps that preceded the Sept. 11, 2011 terrorist attacks.

As the plan began to materialize, one former intelligence official with knowledge of deal said in 2014: “It took a lot of wrangling, but it was easy to see the vision if you laid it all out.”

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The Defense Department will now have access to those same cloud services that have proved to be incredibly valuable to the intelligence community.

The U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) originally hoped to implement AWS in December after the company expanded its capabilities and availability to non-intelligence agencies, but Microsoft’s protest had blocked the deal until last week.

TRANSCOM will likely be the first of many Defense agencies to begin incorporating AWS, serving as a model for other groups who might also want to migrate to a classified commercial cloud computing environment in the future.

If TRANSCOM’s efforts prove successful, AWS will likely earn billions in government contracts. The Defense Department alone currently spends about $40 billion annually on information technology.