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It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

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Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#31

Post by count »

Analemma_ wrote: post #29
ryanmarsh wrote: post #24

I have DoD clients currently doing app dev on new and replacement (for legacy) systems. This writers attempt at making the DoD contract look like a conspiracy is infuriating. The developer experience in the current data center ecosystem is toxic. The infrastructure and insecurity woes compound daily. I don’t care how much Bezos makes, he has a great product and DoD, nay the country, need this. GovCloud would be ice w…

The important thing to realize is that this is par for the course with huge government contracts. There is always rancorous mudslinging, submarine stories, etc. The reality is probably that Amazon is using some shady tactics to try and close this deal, but so are all the other bidders (it's not like Microsoft, who is probably the second-most likely to win JEDI, doesn't have an extensive set of Pentagon connections to…

Another thing to look at: Microsoft is almost definitely going to land DoD/IC-wide O365. AWS taking IaaS compute might be the way of giving both Seattle juggernauts some love.

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#32

Post by xivzgrev »

conanbatt wrote: post #23
Analemma_ wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Azure is certified for Secret data, but not Top Secret AFAIK.

Is Bottom Secret more secret or less secret that Top Secret?

And is top secret more or less secret than double secret probation?

https://youtu.be/1tfK_3XK4CI

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#33

Post by maxsilver »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #21
thosakwe wrote: post #8

There you have it folks - another large corporation gaining political power.

What's your comprehensive alternative? If you "want to do something BIG" , that "BIG" thing is, by definition, going to have an impact. That is to say, it will exert some form of power . And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation.

> What's your comprehensive alternative?

Why can't they build this themselves? If the DoD is such a large customer, has such precise needs and requirements, they should build their own datacenters with their own staff and manage it in-house.

> (snip) And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation.

The government manages a nuclear arsenal and a space flight program. There's no valid reason they couldn't build and run their own server farm without giving it all away to Amazon/Microsoft/Google/Oracle. There's no good reason everything in the entire nation has to be privatized like this.

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#34

Post by samstave »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #24

I have DoD clients currently doing app dev on new and replacement (for legacy) systems. This writers attempt at making the DoD contract look like a conspiracy is infuriating. The developer experience in the current data center ecosystem is toxic. The infrastructure and insecurity woes compound daily. I don’t care how much Bezos makes, he has a great product and DoD, nay the country, need this. GovCloud would be ice w…

The cottage industry around this specific contract is going to be massive.

Whats really interesting though, is that, a huge swath of talent will be ineligeble to work on this as GovCloud/FedRamp requirements for US Citizen employees, physically located in the US to be able to access and work on any of these systems really does impose some limits on the pool.

And while, regardless of how you look at this, it is dysopian from the Corporate-yberPunk-Future perspective (small book seller is now the richest man in the world, and is responsible for the company which monolithically provides the largest government military its computing infra) - There arent really any other alternatives.

I'd say that the opportunity sitting right in front of the talent pool who couldnt be legally able to work on GovCloud implementations would be to ramp up their training and setting up consulting groups who can.

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#35

Post by prolikewh0a »

thosakwe wrote: post #8

There you have it folks - another large corporation gaining political power.

Bezos was already on a Pentagon board [1], and already had contracts with the CIA [2]. Corporations run our government almost entirely, and are now getting into Military Industrial Complex. This is nothing new.

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-joins-...

[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-d...

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#36

Post by samstave »

justicezyx wrote: post #5

Turns out Oracle's complaints do have merits, contrary to normal emotional responses.

And what are their complaints?

Given that Oracle only exists as a company due to the fact that they built one of the first/earliest RDMSs for the CIA makes me not shed many tears for them...

Also, what is Palantir up to these days?

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#37

Post by wmf »

If anybody wants to go to the source: https://www.fbo.gov/index?tab=documents&tabmode=form&subtab=...

I skimmed through some of this and I don't see anything obviously rigged for AWS. There are mentions of 32GB VMs, but it doesn't say they have to be exactly 32GB. I found the 150-mile requirement but it also doesn't look AWS-specific. The description of the ruggedized "tactical edge" device doesn't sound identical to the existing Snowball Edge.

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#38

Post by jchw »

oliverx0 wrote: post #11

Seems a bit too tailored though - "To even make a bid, a provider must maintain a distance of at least 150 miles between its data centers, a prerequisite that only Amazon can currently meet. JEDI also asks for “32 GB of RAM”—the precise specification of Amazon’s services. (Microsoft, by contrast, offers only 28 GB, and Google provides 30 GB.) In places, JEDI echoes Amazon’s own language: It calls for a “ruggedized” s…

"JEDI also asks for “32 GB of RAM”—the precise specification of Amazon’s services. (Microsoft, by contrast, offers only 28 GB, and Google provides 30 GB.)"

What? Microsoft only provides 28 GB of RAM, and Google only 30 GB? I'm pretty sure neither Azure nor GCP even launched with limits that strict.

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#39

Post by stale2002 »

maxsilver wrote: post #33
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your comprehensive alternative? If you "want to do something BIG" , that "BIG" thing is, by definition, going to have an impact. That is to say, it will exert some form of power . And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation.

> What's your comprehensive alternative? Why can't they build this themselves? If the DoD is such a large customer, has such precise needs and requirements, they should build their own datacenters with their own staff and manage it in-house. > (snip) And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation. The government manages a nuclear arsenal and a space flight progra…

Well,sure they COULD build it.

But maybe that would cost 2-3-4 times as much as buying it?

Why shouldn't they instead go with the best in the world?

Presumably, the whole reason why they are doing this, is because they DID build it themselves a decade or so ago, and it didn't result in the best outcome.

Government IT has quite a terrible reputation these days. The government should instead be pushing to have the best in the world.

Re: It’s Amazon’s Swamp Now

#40

Post by massysett »

maxsilver wrote: post #33
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your comprehensive alternative? If you "want to do something BIG" , that "BIG" thing is, by definition, going to have an impact. That is to say, it will exert some form of power . And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation.

> What's your comprehensive alternative? Why can't they build this themselves? If the DoD is such a large customer, has such precise needs and requirements, they should build their own datacenters with their own staff and manage it in-house. > (snip) And you're probably going to have to do that with other people. Probably in the form of a corporation. The government manages a nuclear arsenal and a space flight progra…

The nuclear arsenal is maintained with the help of a huge complex of contractors.
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