AWS Public Sector Blog
Tag: government
Announcing the winners of the AWS City on a Cloud competition
We are excited to announce the winners of the 2020 AWS City on a Cloud competition. Since 2014, we’ve rewarded those who have positively impacted our communities in the City on a Cloud competition. This year, the competition expanded to include finalists from over 14 countries across the globe in search of how organizations are adapting to these unprecedented times and helping cities become more resilient. From building telehealth solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, to improving farmers’ quality of life, to increasing computer science education, the winning cities and organizations went above and beyond to innovate for and with their constituents using the cloud. Check out the winners.
Telehealth, new resources, and new office: What you missed last month
Last month, the AWS Public Sector Blog covered the announcement of a new office in Athens, the launch of a new program to help GovTech startups, new education resources, and more. And on our monthly video series The Brief, we covered telehealth. Check out the episode and some of these top stories from last month in this post.
AWS launches AWS GovTechStart to help GovTech startups
Today, AWS announced the launch of AWS GovTechStart, a new program intended to help early-stage commercial government technology (GovTech) startups build solutions on AWS for state and local governments across the United States. AWS GovTechStart is a virtual GovTech accelerator, modeled after AWS EdStart, that offers eligible companies support including access to equity-free AWS Promotional Credit, technical training and support, a community of GovTech experts, and more.
Access AWS GovCloud (US) through the CLI with Azure AD credentials
Providing access through Azure AD to AWS GovCloud (US) reduces the number of credentials administrators need to manage and use for access to AWS GovCloud (US) and can also increase security to the account by using the same Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) mechanism used with Azure AD. This access also allows the use of scripts and programs to help manage resources in the AWS accounts. This post is a walkthrough of using an open-source utility called saml2aws to provide programmatic access to AWS for Azure AD users.
How to meet business data resiliency with Amazon S3 cross-Region replication
Even though Amazon S3 provides regional data resiliency, customers often have compliance and business requirements to replicate their data to a second Region that is hundreds (or even thousands) of miles away from their primary location. Amazon S3 replication provides an automatic mechanism to make identical copies of your objects in a destination Region of your choice. Replication enables automatic, asynchronous copying of objects across S3 buckets. Learn how to configure S3 Cross Region Replication with S3 RTC feature, and do a walk-through of how to configure event notification for S3 replication events and configuring Amazon CloudWatch alarms for the replication metrics.
Ushering in a new era of innovation in Greece – AWS office launches in Athens
AWS is announcing the opening of an office in Athens, furthering our commitment to investing in Greece and responding to the expanding customer base in the country. The office will support organisations of all sizes—startups, enterprises, and public sector agencies—as they make the transition to the cloud. The opening of the office is our latest investment in Greece.
Amazon WorkSpaces supports CAC/PIV smartcard authentication
With a recent feature release, Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers can now use CAC/PIV cards when using Amazon WorkSpaces to access government systems. Amazon WorkSpaces is a desktop as a service solution that helps users access all of their desktop applications from anywhere. This feature supports pre-session and in-session authentication.
New re:Invent sessions for the public sector coming this month
AWS re:Invent 2020 is not over. Additional content will be released January 12-14, 2021 including more than 200 new no-cost, virtual sessions. In the public sector track, watch five new sessions this January on topics from preparing for ransomware to designing AI and ML applications. Hear from customers like the United States Census Bureau and Capella Space in sessions aired first in Americas, then in Asia-Pacific, and finally in EMEA – all available later on demand.
5 things we’ve learned this year in the cloud for the public sector
This year, global health and economy challenged government, education, nonprofit, and health organizations to rethink operations. With a focus on their mission, organizations quickly shifted to better and more quickly serve their constituents, students, and customers. Many took advantage of ways to innovate and consider adopting the cloud. AWS looked for ways to help these organizations, educating them on the power of the cloud—no matter where they were on their cloud journey—as well as sharing inspiring stories from their peers. Here’s what we learned.
NORAD keeps an eye on Santa with help from Amazon Connect
On the night before Christmas, children around the world wonder when Santa is coming to town. For the 65th consecutive year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will put its world-class technology to work to keep an eye on Santa’s whereabouts. Beginning at 6:00 AM EST on December 24, families can check on Santa’s location by calling the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723). AWS is supporting NORAD by helping their volunteers answer as many calls as possible through Amazon Connect, an omnichannel cloud contact center service. By transferring calls through Amazon Connect, NORAD staff and representatives will be able to answer calls from their homes or offices, supporting those on site at the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center.