AWS Public Sector Blog

Tag: government

City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge – Winners Announced!

Today, AWS announced the winners of the 2017 AWS City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge at the AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington, DC. We recognized 19 winners across the three award categories of the competition – Best Practices, Dream Big, and Partners in Innovation. The competition was designed to recognize how local and regional […]

Technical Training for the Future Cloud Workforce

This week, the Washington, DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP) and AWS celebrated the first cohort in the Pathways Scholarship program. The program is designed to create tech opportunities for the under and unemployed in Washington, DC, by providing a program with resources, training, employment, and ongoing support. This is a collaboration between the DC government, AWS, […]

The Cloud Evolution for Defense Agencies

Cloud computing is at an inflection point in government, moving towards mass adoption. In the past, government tended to move to cloud incrementally – trying email or storage then a database or two. Now that those small moves have proven themselves, agencies are ready for wider adoption. One area in particular is the U.S. Department […]

Announcing the 2017 City on a Cloud Finalists

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 […]

A Guide to Backup and Recovery in the DoD

As the growth of Department of Defense (DoD) data accelerates, the task of protecting it becomes more challenging. Questions about the durability and scalability of backup methods are commonplace, including this one: How does the cloud help meet my backup and archival needs? The mission-critical nature of data within the DoD means that business continuity […]

The Importance and Necessity of Modernizing Government

Federal agencies are faced with increasing pressure to modernize their aging information technology systems and data centers. From global cybersecurity attacks to the constant pressure to do more with less, agencies must act to migrate to secure and modern IT systems. Today, the U.S. House of Representatives took an important step in providing agencies the […]

In Pursuit of a 1 Hour, $10 Genome Annotation

There are hundreds of scientists at the Smithsonian Institution who study just about every kind of life on earth, from animals and plants to fungi and bacteria. Since the initial publication of the human genome project in 2001, DNA sequencing technology has become more efficient and cost-effective, making it possible for individual biodiversity scientists to […]

Last Week for City on a Cloud Applications: Deadline is May 12

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 […]

LiDAR Data for Washington DC is Available as an AWS Public Dataset

LiDAR point cloud data for Washington, DC, is available for anyone to use on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). This dataset, managed by the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), with the direction of OCTO’s Geographic Information System (GIS) program, contains tiled point cloud data for the entire District along […]

The do’s and don’ts of writing a cloud-friendly RFP

Successful cloud adoption flows from well-designed procurement strategies and cloud-centric contract vehicles. Getting procurement “right” will lead to a portfolio of cloud technology and services that truly realizes the benefits of cloud computing. One way to procure the cloud is by issuing an RFP. Check out some tips and resources on RFPs.