Amazon’s expertise may save CIA cloud from HealthCare.gov’s fate
November 8, 2013
Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: David Linthicum.
IBM finally conceded to Amazon Web Services on the construction of the CIA cloud, reports Federal Computer Week. This became a fun fight to watch when word leaked in March that the CIA had awarded the $600 million contract to Amazon.com, accepting a bid that was $54 million higher than IBM’s.
As the report noted, "Big Blue had asked the court to halt contract work between the CIA and AWS while it considered an appeal. The government claimed in a subsequent court filing that an injunction and further delay on the contract would be harmful to national security." IBM is withdrawing, but it could be still in the running. However, it’s clear that AWS has the green light to build a secret cloud for the CIA, and work will likely begin before the end of the year…
Protesting government contracts is common. The larger issue is the government’s investment in cloud computing, and it’s using megacontracts to access these resources. The CIA deal is one of several federal cloud contracts now in place; the feds are deploying both public and private clouds. This should be good news for the taxpayers, as it could at some point reverse the government’s addiction to data centers. Cheaper cloud computing should lead to reduced government spending and perhaps to better government services…
Read more from the source @ http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/amazons-expertise-may-save-cia-cloud-healthcaregovs-fate-230096?source=footer