Category: Education

We are excited to announce our lineup of customer keynote speakers joining us on the main stage for the eighth annual AWS Public Sector Summit June 12-14th at the Washington DC Convention Center. Hear these technology leaders from around the world share their firsthand stories of innovation for the public good and how digital transformation is changing the public sector.

• John G. Edwards, Chief Information Officer, CIA
• Craig Fox, Assistant Commissioner, Australian Taxation Office
• Jeffrey D. Armstrong, President, California Polytechnic State University
• Dr. William Ballhaus, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Blackboard
• Andreas Merkl, President, Ocean Conservancy
• Tom Read, Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO), Ministry of Justice UK
• Ian McCormack, Technical Director Applied Risk Management, National Center for Cyber Security
• Jessica Kahn, Director, Data and Systems Group (DSG), Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

With only one week until the big event, watch these videos to hear from our two AWS keynote speakers – Werner Vogels, Amazon’s CTO and Teresa Carlson, AWS’s VP of Worldwide Public Sector.  Register today for this event. The event is free to government, education, nonprofits as well as public sector partners. Are you a customer in another industry? We have free registration codes for you!

Werner Vogels, CTO, Amazon 

Teresa Carlson, VP of Worldwide Public Sector, AWS

Don’t miss your chance to join AWS and Accenture at the AWS Public Sector Summit. Learn more about the event and register here.

This year’s City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge saw a record number of applications from 15 different countries around the globe. Nominations included cities, counties, municipalities, and, for the first time, school districts using the cloud to improve the lives of the citizen.

Click here to learn more about the finalists and their projects, including real-time transportation applications, public safety services, and GIS projects, all using the AWS Cloud. Thank you to all who applied!

We will be announcing the winners at the AWS Public Sector Summit June 12-14th in Washington, DC! Join us there as we announce the winners in the Best Practices, Dream Big, and Partners in Innovation categories.

Congratulations to all of the finalists!

Best Practices: The Best Practices Award will be granted to a local or regional government leader, or public or private school or district who has deployed an innovative solution to solve a government challenge.

• Alameda County
• Benton Police
• Boulder County
• Caltrans (with Connected Corridors and UC Berkeley)
• Charlottesville City Public Schools
• City of Frederick, MD
• City of San Diego
• Douglas County GIS
• Douglas Omaha Technology Commission
• Intermediate School District 287
• Lawrence Police Department
• Liverpool City Council
• New York Public Library
• Region of Waterloo – Grand River Transit
• Solodev and Seminole Public Schools
• South Australia Government
• Transport for London

Dream Big: The Dream Big Award will be granted to a city or school who has a great idea that they would like to implement.

• Alton Central Schools
• Beyond Machine to Machine Communications
• City of Florence/ pdensity
• City of Iowa City
• City of Las Vegas
• City of Ottawa
• City of Plano
• City of Salinas
• City of Upper Arlington
• City of West Sacramento
• Louisville Metro Government
• Marmion Academy
• Santa Ana Unified School District
• Seattle Public Schools
• Tulsa Public Schools
• WSIPC

Partners in Innovation: The Partners in Innovation Award will be granted to a technology partner who has deployed an innovative solution to solve a government or teaching and learning challenge.

• Acivilate
• Anthemis Technologies
• Bang the Table
• BeeToBit
• Blue Spurs
• CityGrows
• FastFit
• LearnZillion
• See.Sense
• Stroud Water Research Center
• Tolemi
• Universidad de Sevilla
• Visual Labs
• Xaqt

Learn more about the City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge here.

Join Intel and AWS at the 2017 AWS Public Sector Summit for over 100 learning opportunities. Register today!

New to the AWS Public Sector Summit this year in Washington, DC, you can choose from four full-day bootcamps available on Monday, June 12th.

AWS Training Bootcamps are full-day training sessions that offer you a chance to learn about AWS services and solutions through immersive exercises and hands-on labs. Delivered by experienced AWS Instructors and Solution Architects, these bootcamps allow you to work directly with AWS knowledge experts to get your questions answered.

Choose from one of the four below:

• AWS Technical Essentials – Audience Level: Introductory – AWS Technical Essentials is a one-day, introductory-level bootcamp that introduces you to AWS products, services, and common solutions. It provides you with fundamentals to become more proficient in identifying AWS services so that you can make informed decisions about IT solutions based on your business requirements and get started working on AWS. Learn more.
• Secrets to Successful Cloud Transformations – Audience Level: Introductory – Secrets to Successful Cloud Transformations is a one-day, introductory-level bootcamp that teaches you how to select the right strategy, people, migration plan, and financial management methodology needed when moving your workloads to the cloud. This course provides guidance on how to build a holistic cloud adoption plan and how to hire people who will execute that plan. You will learn best practices for choosing workloads to migrate from your on-premises environment to AWS. In addition, you will also learn best practices for managing your AWS expenses and dealing with internal chargebacks. Learn more.  Note: This course focuses on the business, rather than the technical, aspects of cloud transformation.
• Building a Serverless Data Lake – Audience Level: Advanced – Building a Serverless Data Lake is a one-day, advanced-level bootcamp designed to teach you how to design, build, and operate a serverless data lake solution with AWS services. The bootcamp will include topics such as ingesting data from any data source at large scale, storing the data securely and durably, enabling the capability to use the right tool to process large volumes of data, and understanding the options available for analyzing the data in near-real time. Learn more.
• Running Container-Enabled Microservices on AWS – Audience Level: Expert – Running Container-Enabled Microservices on AWS is a one-day, expert-level bootcamp that provides an in-depth, hands-on introduction to managing and scaling container-enabled applications. This full-day bootcamp provides an overview of container and microservice architectures. You will learn how to containerize an example application and architect it according to microservices best practices. Hands-on labs that feature the AWS container-focused services show you how to schedule long-running applications and services, set up a software delivery pipeline for your microservices application, and implement elastic scaling of the application based on customer load. Learn more.

All students must bring their own devices (requires dual-core processor with 4GB of RAM). Each bootcamp is $600 and must be reserved in advance. Enter the code PSBOOT100 to get $100 off your ticket. Space is limited, save your spot!

A core reason organizations adopt a cloud IT infrastructure is to save money. The traditional approach of analyzing Total Cost of Ownership no longer applies when you move to the cloud. Cloud services provide the opportunity for you to use only what you need and pay only for what you use. We refer to this new paradigm as the Total Cost of Operation in our latest white paper on “Maximizing Value with AWS.” You can use Total Cost of Operation (TCO) analysis methodologies to compare the costs of owning a traditional data center with the costs of operating your environment using AWS cloud services.

Get started with these cost-saving tips and download the whitepaper for more details:

1. Create a culture of cost management: All teams can help manage costs, and cost optimization should be everyone’s responsibility. There are many variables that affect cost, with different levers that can be pulled to drive operational excellence.
2. Start with an understanding of current costs: Having a clear understanding of your existing infrastructure and migration costs and then projecting your savings will help you calculate payback time, estimate ROI, and maximize the value your organization gains from migrating to AWS.
3. Select the right plan for specific workloads: Moving business applications to the AWS Cloud helps organizations simplify infrastructure management, deploy new services faster, provide greater availability, and lower costs.
4. Employ best practices: AWS delivers a robust set of services specifically designed for the unique security, compliance, privacy, and governance requirements of large organizations.

With a technology platform that is both broad and deep, professional services and support organizations, training programs, and an ecosystem that is tens of thousands of partners strong, AWS can help you move faster and do more.

Download the whitepaper to learn more.

Learn more about how to save money in the cloud and join CloudCheckr and AWS at the AWS Public Sector Summit June 12-14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Register today!

Breaking down barriers to opportunity is a top priority for many educational organizations. By expanding learning beyond the confines of a physical classroom, technology helps increase access to courses and level the playing field for students.

For schools and educators, the cloud offers not only cost savings and agility, but also the opportunity to develop breakthroughs in educational models and student engagement. For students, it means access to the resources they need, especially in geographically dispersed areas where access might be limited.

For example, Idaho Digital Learning (IDL), the state-sponsored online school serving K-12 students across all of Idaho, has been an early adopter of cloud in K12 education. Idaho Digital Learning offers an assortment of courses including core curriculum, credit recovery, electives, Dual Credit and Advanced Placement. These courses are offered in Cohort, Flex, and Hybrid formats to accommodate the nearly 27,000 enrolled students’ schedules and learning styles.

Through a strong collaboration between industry, school districts, and the state government, IDL accomplishes its mission to build the pipeline of talent to fill the growing number of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs, which can be a challenge in a rural state like Idaho.

Idaho Digital Learning and AWS

Idaho Digital Learning has been able to use the power of technology to flexibly, conveniently, reliably, and securely deliver content across school districts by providing virtual learning using AWS.

To be able to provide the critical anytime, anywhere access to smaller schools, Idaho Digital Learning migrated all-in on AWS in 2014. The organization uses Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Route 53, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and Amazon CloudFront to create access and opportunity for all Idaho students and educators through digital learning.

Some of the benefits realized by IDL include:

• Continuity of Operations (no matter the location) – Moving physical locations to a virtualized model shared by districts with multiple failovers provides for always-on access and greater continuity of operations for all users. “Even when faced with incidents, such as a squirrel chewing a line or a snowstorm taking down the power, we were able to provide the services to our students,” said William Dembi, Infrastructure Specialist, Idaho Digital Learning. “The biggest benefit was business continuity. Previously, with on-premises, there were no failsafes. Now, because the solution is virtualized and backed up on AWS, we have peace of mind that we can deliver the content to students and educators, no matter what might pop up and no matter where they are.”
• Security of Student Data – Protecting student data is a top priority with virtual learning. AWS makes many common security practices simple and effective. The Virtual Private Gateway service creates tunnels for encrypted traffic between IDL’s AWS infrastructure and on-premises network. Only SQL traffic is able to reach the SQL servers. NAT Gateways are utilized to protect private subnets from internet traffic. Only requests originating from the private subnet, like Windows updates, are allowed on the private subnets and instances. “Hosting our sensitive data in the cloud eliminates any physical security needs, such as locks and access cards. IAM is utilized to enforce MFA on users with elevated permissions,” said William. “We currently have daily backups of our SIS database that are migrated directly to Amazon Glacier. These backups are encrypted and extremely cost effective, which allows for terabytes of backup uploaded at a minimal cost. The other added bonus has been ease of use. It’s super easy with AWS to just put in a credit card and start working.”
• Data Accessibility and Efficiency – Currently IDLA utilizes more than one Learning Management System (LMS), depending on whether a student is taking a cohort, blended, or flex course. Although these formats vary significantly, especially when it comes to grading versus mastery-based outcomes, a lot of the learning content can be similar. “We had a situation where our teachers had to develop content twice for each LMS, which doubled their work. To solve this issue, we leveraged Amazon S3 as an easily accessible data store for our course content,” said William. “Because we uploaded our content to an LMS-agnostic data store (rather than uploading it to something like Blackboard’s content collection), we were able to develop the content once and just embed it twice. This saved a major amount of development time for our teachers.”

Learn more about the AWS tools to help every student get the attention needed to thrive in and out of the classroom.

The 2017 City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge will remain open for entries until Friday, May 12– so there is still time to apply!

Through the competition, AWS helps local and regional governments, schools, and districts innovate by simplifying IT workloads that they struggle with and depend on every day, such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Content Management Systems (CMS), Open Data portals, Learning Management System (LMS), and more.

Winners are given up to $50,000 in AWS Promotional Credits to support their cloud initiatives and encourage innovation and research.

Here are some examples of how cities are leveraging the AWS Cloud to solve for challenges facing their communities:

• 311 mobile applications allow citizens better access to vital information and open lines of communication.
• Open Data initiatives are allowing researchers to connect disparate datasets, drawing new insights with pre-existing data.
• Justice and Public Safety strategies like wearable cameras and real-time information sharing are keeping first responders as informed as possible.

Looking for ideas before you submit your application? Get advice from a previous City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge Winner, Appriss Safety.

Apply today!

AWS announced the launch of AWS EdStart, a new program that helps educational technology (EdTech) startups build innovative teaching and learning solutions using the AWS Cloud. AWS EdStart offers EdTech startups grants of AWS Promotional Credits to build their infrastructure and solutions on AWS and create the next generation of online learning, analytics, and campus management solutions.

If you’ve got a big idea for a company that can change education, AWS EdStart can help. By joining, you’ll also have access to office hours, trainings, and community forums. Your solutions will be built on the same scalable platform used by D2L, Clever, Instructure, Ellucian, Blackboard, Coursera, and Echo360.

Hear from EdTech Startups

From idea to IPO and beyond, AWS is the infrastructure standard for education’s technology ecosystem. Through AWS EdStart, we provide qualifying EdTech startups with the low cost, easy to use infrastructure needed to scale and grow a business of any size.

“The AWS EdTech Startup program is a dream come true for any bootstrapped startup. It gives SKOOKi a perfect jumpstart and peace of mind to iterate the product and processes while utilizing the most trustworthy and robust infrastructure,” said AliSher Rakhimov, Founder and CEO, SKOOKi.

“Vocareum was built upon the notion that cloud infrastructure paired with open source technology will transform how students and professionals learn to code. Our mission is to improve assessment efficiency, student engagement, and learning outcomes with our cutting-edge and cost-effective computing labs. We are excited to find a home with AWS’s EdTech Startup Program, scaling our solution for educators worldwide,” said Sanjay Srivastava, CEO, Vocareum.

“The EdTech industry has seen marked growth in investment due to the impact it has on students globally and the potential for disruption. The AWS EdStart program from Amazon Web Services is timely. It enables startup EdTechs to build and deliver education solutions faster and more cost effectively than before by utilizing the benefits the cloud has to offer. Investors want startups to focus on innovation rather than infrastructure, and AWS EdStart helps education entrepreneurs keep their focus on student outcomes,” said Michael Cohn, Principal, GSV Acceleration.

Apply Today!

Startups can apply to join AWS EdStart if they are less than five years old, based in the United States, and have less than $10M in revenue. Applications should include a plan for an innovative solution for students, teachers, or administrators that solves a current problem and/or disrupts current educational models.

To apply and for more information about the program, visit: aws.amazon.com/awsedstart.

The AWS Build-A-Business Workshop promotes innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development in Latin America through a series of GriffinWorx workshops. Our first event is in Costa Rica on April 27-28. Register here.

Each Build-A-Business Workshop is a two-day experiential, mentor-driven event supporting the development of innovative new businesses. Working with GriffinWorx, government leadership, AWS experts, universities, and grassroots organizations, our goal is to empower new businesses and collaborate with business solution providers in the region to uncover hidden opportunities and actionable solutions that will ignite innovative thinking and behaviors.

Cloud technology can be a game changer for entrepreneurs and economies. At AWS, we want to give new businesses a boost in their business planning, demand generation, and technology innovation to bring their products or services to market.

Here are five essential actions startups can take to use AWS technology as a driver of innovation:

1. Take advantage of AWS Activate: AWS Activate is a program designed to provide startups with the resources to get started on AWS. All startups can apply for the Self-Starter Package. We also have custom Portfolio and Portfolio Plus packages for startups in select accelerators, incubators, Seed/VC Funds, and startup-enabling organizations. In addition, each startup participating in the AWS Build-A-Business Workshop will receive $1,000 in AWS promotional credits.
2. Work with the Government: Technology ecosystems require collaboration to grow and thrive. Startups should identify methods for crosscutting collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations. Most countries have small business advantage or incubation programs, which can include a collection of local mentors, business loans, or facilities to use as you get your business off the ground.
3. Be Curious: Learn what would ultimately make your customers successful. Dive into the details from your customers’ perspectives. What matters most to them? How can you make their experience better? As you are building your business, start with an end goal and map out the steps to get there. This can reduce surprises.
4. Think Globally: With tools like AWS LightSail, you can have technology that is offered to the largest of enterprises for the cost of a cup of coffee. AWS pricing gives customers of all sizes the opportunity to access innovative cloud services.
5. Create your “Board of Directors:” Increasing the quality and quantity of entrepreneurs requires increasing the quality and quantity of local mentors and coaches dedicated to empowering the next generation of innovators. From the start, engage with mentors you trust locally who can open doors for you. Ask them to give you constructive feedback as you get started. Local mentors and coaches can help build strong teams, design viable business models, secure customers, and generate revenue rapidly. The result is the growth of scalable and investment-ready businesses.

“At AWS we believe that investing in entrepreneurs creates a more well educated and successful workforce,” said Jeff Kratz, General Manager of Worldwide Public Sector for Latin America, Canada and the Caribbean at Amazon Web Services. “Technology innovation can drive economic development around the globe, and we are committed to supporting the entrepreneur across Latin America.”

By reducing the barriers for innovation to flourish, we are encouraging Latin America’s entrepreneurial ecosystem growth and the empowerment of innovative businesses. Take your current business or idea to the next level and register today for the AWS Build-A-Business Workshop.

Cinco consejos para construir su negocio con AWS

El taller AWS Build-A-Business Workshop promueve la innovación, el emprendimiento y el desarrollo económico en América Latina a través de una serie de talleres de GriffinWorx. Nuestro primer evento se lleva a cabo en Costa Rica, del 27 al 28 de abril. Regístrese aquí.

Cada taller de AWS Build-A-Business es un evento experimental de dos días, orientado por mentores, que apoya el desarrollo de nuevos negocios innovadores. Trabajando con GriffinWorx, liderazgo gubernamental, expertos de AWS, universidades y organizaciones de base, nuestro objetivo es capacitar a nuevos negocios y colaborar con proveedores de soluciones de negocios en la región para descubrir oportunidades ocultas y soluciones accionables que enciendan pensamientos y actuaciones innovadoras.

La tecnología en la nube puede suponer un cambio importante para los empresarios y las economías. En AWS queremos impulsar a las nuevas empresas en su planificación empresarial, generación de demanda e innovación tecnológica a la hora de llevar sus productos o servicios al mercado.

Estas son cinco acciones esenciales que las startups pueden llevar a cabo para usar la tecnología AWS como un motor de innovación:

1. Aproveche AWS Activate: AWS Activate es un programa diseñado para proporcionar a las startups los recursos necesarios para comenzar a utilizar AWS. Todas las startups pueden solicitar el paquete Self-Starter. También tenemos paquetes personalizados de Portfolio y Portfolio Plus para startups en determinados aceleradores, incubadoras, organizaciones de Capital Inicial/Capital Riesgo y organizaciones para la puesta en marcha de startups. Además, cada startup que participe en el Taller AWS Build-A-Business recibirá $ 1,000 en créditos promocionales de AWS.
2. Trabajo con el Gobierno: Los ecosistemas tecnológicos requieren colaboración para crecer y prosperar. Las startups deben identificar métodos para la colaboración con organizaciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales. La mayoría de los países cuentan con programas de incubación o de ventaja para pequeñas empresas, que pueden incluir una colección de mentores locales, préstamos comerciales o instalaciones que se utilizarán mientras su negocio despega.
3. Sea curioso: Aprenda lo que en última instancia hará que sus clientes obtengan éxito. Profundice en los detalles desde las perspectivas de sus clientes. ¿Qué es lo que más les importa? ¿Cómo puede mejorar su experiencia? Mientras usted construye su negocio, comience con un objetivo final y planifique los pasos necesarios para llegar allí. Esto puede reducir las sorpresas.
4. Piense globalmente: Con herramientas como AWS LightSail, puede obtener la tecnología que se ofrece a las mayores corporaciones por el costo de una taza de café. Los precios de AWS permiten a los clientes de todos los tamaños la oportunidad de acceder a los innovadores servicios en la nube.
5. Cree su “Junta de Directores:” Aumentar la calidad y la cantidad de emprendedores requiere aumentar la calidad y la cantidad de mentores y entrenadores locales dedicados a capacitar a la próxima generación de innovadores. Desde el principio, comprométase con los mentores de confianza locales que pueden abrirles puertas. Pídales que le proporcionen crítica constructiva a medida que comienza. Los mentores y entrenadores locales pueden ayudar a crear equipos fuertes, diseñar modelos comerciales viables, asegurar clientes y generar ingresos rápidamente. El resultado es el crecimiento de negocios escalables y preparados para la inversión.

“En AWS creemos que invertir en los emprendedores crea una población activa más educada y capaz”, dijo Jeff Kratz, Director del Sector Publico Global para Latinoamérica, Canadá y el Caribe de Amazon Web Services. “La innovación tecnológica puede impulsar el desarrollo económico en todo el mundo y nosotros estamos comprometidos en apoyar a los empresarios en toda América Latina.”

Al reducir las barreras para que la innovación pueda florecer, estamos alentando el crecimiento de los ecosistemas empresariales de América Latina y el empoderamiento de negocios innovadores. Lleve su negocio o idea actual al siguiente nivel y regístrese hoy para el Taller AWS Build-A-Business.

Are you a technology partner implementing a program or service on behalf of a government or school district? Winners will receive up to $50,000 in AWS promotional credits to help achieve their mission with the cloud. Click here to apply today (the nomination takes around five minutes)! The City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge closes on Friday, May 12th.

Here is one winner’s story:

VINE began from a tragedy in Louisville, Kentucky in 1993. Mary Byron was tragically murdered by her boyfriend turned rapist when he was released without notification to Mary or her family. County officials worked diligently to design a system that would let crime victims know the location and incarceration status of their offenders.

Mike Davis, the current CEO of Appriss, and Yung Nguyen founded Appriss in 1994. The two worked with Jefferson County, Kentucky, government officials to develop the nation’s first automated victim information and notification system (VINE) after Mary Byron’s murder. VINE® (Victim Information and Notification Everyday) is a free service that lets victims call a toll-free number, visit www.vinelink.com, or use the VINE mobile app to anonymously check on an offender’s custody status. Victims can also register to receive automated notifications about changes in offender status in their choice of format: phone, email, or text. VINE is currently used in 48 states and is the nation’s leading automated victim notification solution. VINE also offers protective order and court notifications, in select states.

With plans to launch a greatly enhanced version of VINE in 2017, Appriss Safety, a division of Appriss, Inc., applied to the 2016 City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge in the Partners in Innovation category in hopes of winning AWS promotional credits to mitigate some of the costs, since they had plans to use many AWS services, including compute, storage and content delivery, database, networking, analytics, management tools, and application services.

“We were encouraged to apply for the City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge as we needed to update VINE’s aging technology infrastructure. With the help of the AWS credits, we are now using AWS services to bring the new version of VINE to market,” said Krisy Bucher, Marketing Manager. “City on a Cloud provided us with AWS promotional credits, good exposure for our company, and a networking opportunity to meet with other industry leaders at the AWS Public Sector Summit.”

The City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge provided Appriss Safety with $25,000 in AWS promotional credits to help bring the VINE service to the cloud. The new version, releasing this spring, adds new features for victims of crime and a new application response system hosted on AWS GovCloud (US), an isolated AWS region designed to host sensitive data and regulated workloads in the cloud. Appriss continues its mission of saving lives and fighting crime by providing access to the nation’s most comprehensive and up-to-date arrest data network.

Apply to the City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge today.

Whether you are new to the cloud or an experienced user, you can always learn something new at the AWS Public Sector Summit. This year’s event, geared towards government, education, and nonprofits, is taking place June 12-14 in Washington, DC.

Save your spot today and get ready to spend three action-packed days with the innovators who are changing the world with cloud computing. You’ll go home with new strategies and techniques to accomplish new projects, maximize budgets, and achieve your mission that you didn’t think possible.

Monday, June 12: Pre-Day

New this year, we will have a pre-day with technical bootcamps. Seating is limited, so reserve your spot today. We will also be hosting technical and business pre-day workshops. Check them out here.

Tuesday, June 13 – Wednesday, June 14: General Sessions

Attend 100+ breakout sessions on topics such as DevOps, big data, Internet of Things, security and compliance, adoption models, scientific computing, open data, and more. We will have two keynotes featuring AWS leaders and global CIOs. And don’t miss our networking opportunities with partners and peers.

Watch this video to learn more and register today.