Dive Brief:

• GE made AWS its "preferred" cloud provider and is continuing to migrate many of its core IT applications, including GE Power, GE Digital, GE Aviation and GE Transportation, to the platform, according to an AWS announcement Thursday. GE began migrating applications to AWS in 2014 and to-date has moved more than 2,000 applications to the platform to take advantage of its machine learning and analytics.

• GE is forgoing building and running its own data centers in order to focus IT teams and resources on digital innovation, according to Chris Drumgoole, CTO and corporate VP at GE.

• The announcement comes amid several changes in GE's leadership. Last week alone, the company announced multiple changes to the board and the appointment of CEO of GE Transportation to CFO.

Dive Insight:

CEO John Flannery reaffirmed GE's commitment to digital transformation and applications in late September, and GE's multi-year reliance on AWS makes this announcement anything but a surprise.

GE joins the majority of enterprises in its use of multiple IaaS providers. GE is bringing Predix to Azure and is expected to complete the process by the end of 2017. GE selected Azure for its industrial cloud platform in order to access its natural language tech, AI, advanced data visualization and enterprise application integration.

The current reliance on multiple clouds across the enterprise bodes well for the future of IaaS providers by creating a highly competitive environment. AWS may have established dominance in the market, but competitors' market shares are only growing as each provider ups its service offerings, allowing customers like GE to find clouds best fitted to different business platforms.