Category: Public Sector

I had the pleasure of taking the stage in Brussels and giving the keynote presentation at our first-ever European Public Sector Summit. I was inspired by the hundreds of organizations in attendance and by the number of whom have embraced the cloud to support their digital transformation initiatives. I also was awed by how much our customers have been able to achieve using AWS technology, notably the European Commission and Santillana. These leaders shared stories of saving money and delivering innovative digital solutions through AWS that are helping to build a better future.

Today at the AWS Public Sector Summit in Brussels, we announced that AWS EdStart, a program that is designed to help startup educational technology (EdTech) companies build teaching and learning solutions on the AWS Cloud, is now available in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

We are excited to announce the launch of the Registry of Open Data on AWS (RODA). With RODA, you can find and share data staged publicly for analysis on AWS. Search for datasets by keyword and tags for common types of data, such as genomic, satellite imagery, and transportation, on a simple web interface. Every dataset listed in RODA includes basic information about the data, how to access it on AWS, its license, a link to documentation, and contact information if you have questions. Many listings also include links to tutorials or applications that make use of the data.

The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based policy research organization dedicated to developing evidence-based insights that improve decision making, strengthen communities, and make people’s lives better. As a leader in data-driven policy research, the Urban Institute was looking for a solution that would enable it to run sophisticated data analytics and microsimulation models with flexibility, speed, and accuracy.

Cities relying on smart city solutions find value in core technologies, such as compute, storage, databases, and data warehouses; and advanced technologies like big data analytics, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence. A critical ingredient for any smart solution is data. It offers insight into the status of municipal processes, and the changes required to meet local government objectives.

One of the greatest advantages of cloud computing is enabling the government to use the latest innovations at a rapid pace. Cloud services can help government agencies deliver their mission more efficiently and modernize their infrastructure without a substantial upfront capital investment, allowing them to undertake more projects faster.

There are many arguments for building a serverless architecture. Chief among them, users only pay for the computing power they use. Organizations can begin by identifying and eliminating the bottlenecks in their workflow. For example, CSIRO Bioinformatics in Sydney, Australia, used AWS X-Ray to systematically evaluate their serverless architecture and, by doing so, improved their runtime by 80%.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) charted their path to the cloud back in 2012 with the cloud directive. Since then, they have made strides in accelerating the adoption of cloud computing throughout the department. Critical to the success of cloud adoption is training the warfighter on how to use the new technology. What better way to train soldiers in the cloud, than through a “born-in-the-cloud” startup. The Data Incubator is a growing startup and AWS Partner Network (APN) member who not only uses AWS, but also trains defense agencies on how to use AWS tools in the cloud across all data classification levels.

March was another active month for the public sector blog. Here is a look at the top five posts that resonated most with our readers.

If you have ever searched for directions, called an Uber, or looked up a trailhead, you have used DigitalGlobe’s imagery or information derived from it. DigitalGlobe went all-in on AWS to meet the growing demand for commercial geo-intelligence, migrating its entire 18-year imagery archive to the cloud. The company used AWS Snowmobile to move 100 petabytes of data to the cloud, allowing it to move away from large file-transfer protocols and delivery workflows.