Author: AWS Public Sector Blog Team

On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida. At the request of standby organizations Help.NGO and Information Technology Disaster Resource Center (ITDRC), the AWS Disaster Preparedness and Response team assisted with response operations across a variety of functions in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

AWS announced AWS Modular Data Center. This new service provides U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) customers with the ability to deploy compute and storage capabilities to support large-scale workloads wherever they need it, including in Disconnected, Disrupted, Intermittent, or Limited (DDIL) environments. Instead of relying on limited data center infrastructure or building from the ground up, this offering delivers a cost-effective, self-contained modular data center solution that supports customers’ data center scale workloads.

AWS today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation (MHESI) to boost innovation using cloud technology. Through this collaboration, AWS will support MHESI to identify pilot workloads for the ministry to start migrating to the AWS Cloud. MHESI will also use AWS training programs to upskill employees on AWS Cloud skills across over 200 education institutions and over 20 MHESI-managed research and education agencies across Thailand by early 2026.

For the 67th consecutive year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will put technology to work to track Santa and his reindeer as they make their famous trip around the world. On December 24—the night before Christmas—children everywhere can contact the NORAD Tracks Santa (NTS) program, supported by AWS and Amazon Connect, to receive live updates on Santa’s whereabouts.

The United Arab Emirates Space Agency and AWS have signed a Statement of Strategic Intent and Cooperation that is designed to support the creation of a vibrant, sustainable, competitive, and innovative space sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). AWS will collaborate with the United Arab Emirates Space Agency and related UAE government space organizations on three initiatives designed to support the Space Agency’s long-term development goals.

In the public sector leadership session at re:Invent 2022, Max Peterson, vice president of AWS worldwide public sector, spoke with special guests Dr. Peggy Whitson, astronaut and director of human space flight at Axiom Space, and Matthew C. Fraser, chief technology officer (CTO) of New York City, about the rapid digital transformation in the public sector and key trends that can help build a better future. Discover the conversations, stories, news, and announcements you missed at the re:Invent 2022 public sector leadership session.

George Mason University (Mason) is on a mission to build a more student centric and technologically advanced education institution. Leveraging the breadth and depth of services across Amazon, including technical solutions from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the university will embark on a multi-year collaborative effort. Mason will drive new innovations to better serve students, work with the defense community, advance its commitment to a more sustainable campus environment, and introduce new educational programs in data center engineering.

AWS re:Invent returns to Las Vegas, Nevada for 2022, from November 28 through December 2. The annual event helps customers and partners reimagine what’s possible by learning what’s new with AWS, growing their knowledge, and getting inspired by the global cloud community. How can public sector attendees prepare for re:Invent and make the most of their experience?

The backbone of the internet is crisscrossed with a network of fiber optic cables, carrying internet, TV, and telephone data that most of use every day. Over a two-day period, 33 individuals mostly from Southwest Virginia took part in the AWS Fiber Optic Fusion Splicing Certificate Course, a no-cost two-day training providing students with lectures and hands-on practice with fiber optic installation and repair. The course was held November 14-15 at Mountain Empire Community College (MECC), in Appalachia, Virginia, and in collaboration with MECC and the LENOWISCO Planning District Commission.

The Poudre River Library District is a public library system in Larimer County, Colorado that serves approximately 177,000 patrons. When their integrated library system (ILS) vendor notified the Library District that the system could no longer run on their aging on-premises hardware, they were at a crossroads. After pricing out multiple options, the Library District opted to manage their own ILS migration to AWS. With an IT staff of four, the Library District completed a successful migration in six months with help from their AWS account team.