Boeing has formed partnerships with the three cloud computing giants to support its digital transformation.

Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft will help the company expand its cloud operations, “creating a single foundation for the company’s approach to cloud computing in the years ahead,” it said in an announcement.

According to Boeing, its applications have previously been hosted through on-site servers, managed by Boeing or external partners. With its legacy systems ageing and difficult to maintain, there have been difficulties “developing and deploying digital solutions across the company.”

Boeing said it hopes the new deals, which build on existing relationships with each provider, will remove these infrastructure restraints, allowing for development of applications across the business.

“One of the biggest challenges to traditional hosting solutions is scalability – predicting, procuring, maintaining and paying for servers before a developer ever writes a single line of code,” said Susan Doniz, Boeing Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Information Technology & Data Analytics.

“Cloud adoption unlocks those challenges by allowing developers to tap into additional storage or capacity when they need it. It’s like having a nationwide broadband network and we’re still using dial-up.”

“These partnerships will strengthen our ability to test a system – or an aircraft – hundreds of times using digital twin technology before it is deployed,” added Doniz. “Our partners will help Boeing take advantage of the best the industry has to offer while enabling employees to tap into leading tools, training and experts to improve skills and learn new ones.”

The cloud partnerships will also work in hand-in-hand with Boeing’s sustainability goals, the company said, giving it access to more energy efficient technologies, streamlined data centres, and digital tools and testing to help reduce its carbon footprint.