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Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

nytimes.com

371–380 of 466 posts

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#371

"Google dropped out last October without submitting a formal bid, saying the military work conflicted with its corporate principles, which preclude the use of artificial intelligence in weaponry." <3

Only after their employees revolted. Never forget this. Only after the employees spoke up.

What point are you trying to make? The employees make up the company.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't all of that simply mean Texas (and the UK) are basically only giving up their seat at the table but still have to do all the things the other party wants in order to stay connected? Unless the leaving party has a lot of somethings that the party they are leaving from wants, they don't really have much of a position to bargain. Everyone seems to think that a (relatively) small unit of land and their people can…

A "soft Brexit" would mean the UK would still have to follow the majority of EU rules, yet give up their say in the making of those rules. It sounds rather unfair, yet it is basically the EEA arrangement which Norway/Iceland/Liechtenstein already have, and appear happy with overall (they don't want to move toward full membership which would give them an equal say, nor do they want to leave the EEA which would give th…

There about 10% away from being a swing state.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#373
post #19

Original post from U.S. DoD: https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/... There's several other contracts mentioned in the post. It's a good reminder of how much money goes into the military–industrial complex. The JEDI contract was by far the largest contract awarded in this round. The rest of contracts total roughly 1.5 billion dollars.

From the link, could anyone explain why there is a $148 million dollar contract for F35 testing expected to be completed in 2032? Why would it take 12 years to perform testing?

In government funding you ask that they set the money aside for your specific use. So it’s better to get that set aside for as far out as possible so you don’t have to go back to congress every year and risk political machinations. The 12 year funding is likely a 6 year contract with two optional 3 year renewals or one 6 year optional renewal. There may also be a way to move that money into a new program in 6 years more easily than if you had to go back to congress for a totally new budget.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#374
post #274

For a lot of people the thinking will go "ah DoD uses Azure so it is safe to put pur own valuable stuff there". But is the DoD contract actually using the same Azure infrastructure as everyone else or is it running on a physically separated Azure platform with staff w security clearance?

They will almost certainly build entirely new regions that are air gapped and just for them. AWS already has 2 air gapped regions for the sole use of the US government.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy in charge of the award bowed out two days ago...

This definitely sound like political pressure. But maybe Amazon dodged a bullet here, Microsoft employees would have many tales to tell about how their government customer users and their requirements onto Microsoft itself. Assuming this decision stays.

AWS already has 2 entire air gapped regions dedicated to the US government so they are already stuck in that hell hole.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#376
post #305
post #18

It's good to have competition in the cloud space. Amazon already has two government regions, I guess (1 US and 1 CN). Can someone confirm if these are already operational?

AWS CN regions (there are two) aren't "government" regions, they are "China" regions. https://www.amazonaws.cn/en/about-aws/china/ China's government makes companies store Chinese data in China and under different privacy and security laws than other nations. In particular, China makes companies enter into joint ventures with a Chinese company and comply with laws related to CCP oversight. (Not saying I agree, just s…

In addition to govcloud, they have 2 entire air gapped (network isolated which is why you cannot see them) regions for the US government, 1 for secret data and 1 for top secret data.

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#377
post #367
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not only about the $10 billion. Microsoft has essentially cemented being the cloud provider for the Pentagon for the foreseeable future. Once all of the pentagon is integrated with Azure, after the 10 years are up, it will be very unlikely for Pentagon to want to switch, not only due to costs, but everyone will have been trained specifically for handling Azure. This gives Microsoft a massive lead in terms of gov…

> Microsoft has essentially cemented being the cloud provider for the Pentagon for the foreseeable future. How? AWS already has 3 entire regions dedicated to the US government and those aren't going away anytime soon.

AWS certainly has numerous US government contracts; however, none of those are from the Pentagon. With the awarding of the contract, the Pentagon specifically has chosen Microsoft over AWS.

Note: Pentagon != all US govt agencies

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Core to many Texans identity is a belief that someday Texas is going to secede from the Union again and become its own independent country. Don't get me wrong, I love Texas and I love many of the Texans I've met for being some of the chillest, most down to earth, pragmatic and welcoming people I have ever met, but they are a bit weird about this particular issue sometimes.

I've had the (mis? Fortune) of living in that one state in every country - Texas, Quebec and "Tamil Nadu" in India

To be fair to Quebec, there are major linguistic, cultural and historical differences with the rest of Canada. /rant over :)

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only after their employees revolted. Never forget this. Only after the employees spoke up.

What point are you trying to make? The employees make up the company.

That any perceived moral fibre in Google should be attributed to its rank and file, rather than its leadership?

Re: Microsoft Wins Pentagon’s $10B Contract

#380

Since the early 2000s, Microsoft has done a significant amount of work for the NSA. AWS has had GovCloud, and it is true the CIA uses AWS, but MSFT has built out quite well some of the more exotic requests of the NSA. The crown jewel of the NSA’s MSFT partnership is the San Antonio, Texas data center. The “5150 Rogers Road” data center was chosen because Texas has cheap electricity, which is an enormous cost outlay f…

VA houses its data and servers and staffs in Austin as well.
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