A Walmart manager demonstrating how customers can pick up online orders. Photo by AP
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Walmart and Target Take Page From Amazon’s Cloud Playbook

Photo: A Walmart manager demonstrating how customers can pick up online orders. Photo by AP

Walmart and Target have decided that the best way to compete with Amazon in shopping is to follow its playbook in the cloud.

Both companies are switching to cheap unbranded “white box” servers running open-source software for their data centers, instead of equipment made by firms like Dell or Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said a person with knowledge of their plans. It’s a switch Amazon Web Services made several years ago, to save money and get more flexibility in devising new applications. The retailers hope for the same benefits.

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