The decade-long deal will let national security staff from agencies such as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and Australian Secret Intelligence Service collaborate with their peers without touching the open internet where foreign powers could gain access.But the total cost of the project, called the Top Secret Cloud, could be significantly higher than $2 billion, with the government covering the construction of the facilities then paying for its use of them.
Negotiations on the deal began in 2021. Microsoft, which was initially involved in the talks, walked away. The government began negotiating with Amazon Web Services early last year.Amazon is the world’s largest cloud computing company and has contracts to deliver similar national security systems in the United States and United Kingdom.