JEDI Warriors: Amazon and Microsoft Soldier On for Money
May 11, 2020
DarkCyber noted “Bid High, Lose, Try Again. Amazon Continues to Push for a JEDI Re-Do.” The main point of the write up is to point out that Amazon is not happy with the disposition of the Department of Defense’s decision to award JEDI to Microsoft.
What’s interesting about the article is that Microsoft implies that it is the provider of the “latest and best technology available.” The author is a corporate vice president of communications. The viewpoint is understandable.
The blog post points out:
Amazon has filed yet another protest – this time, out of view of the public and directly with the DoD – about their losing bid for the JEDI cloud contract. Amazon’s complaint is confidential, so we don’t know what it says. However, if their latest complaint mirrors the arguments Amazon made in court , it’s likely yet another attempt to force a re-do because they bid high and lost the first time.
That’s an interesting assertion. If the bid data were available, perhaps some characterization of what “high” means in this context would be helpful.
DarkCyber understood that Amazon lost the procurement because of a combination of factors, not “price.” Factors included alleged interference by the White House, Amazon’s assurances that on premises and cloud systems would work in the security environment required / envisioned by the DoD, and a lack of support for essential applications like PowerPoint. Price is an important factor, but data about the fees is not floating around in the miasma of rural Kentucky.
Microsoft’s PR VP states:
This latest filing – filed with the DoD this time – is another example of Amazon trying to bog down JEDI in complaints, litigation and other delays designed to force a do-over to rescue its failed bid. Think about it: Amazon spent the better part of last month fighting in court to prevent the DoD from taking a 120-day pause to address a concern flagged by the judge and reevaluate the bids. Amazon fought for a complete re-do and more delay. Amazon lost. The judge granted the DoD’s request for a timeout in the litigation to address her concerns. And now Amazon is at it again, trying to grind this process to a halt, keeping vital technology from the men and women in uniform – the very people Amazon says it supports.
The conclusion of the blog post is that Amazon should tip over its king and concede defeat.
DarkCyber finds this procurement to be interesting. Neither side is likely to walk away.
The reason, however, has little to do with technology or concern with the DoD, war fighters, or any other uplifting notion.
There are 10 billion reasons or more plus additional payments as a result of scope changes, engineering change orders, and ancillary tasks.
The battle is less about ideals and more about money, prestige, and the JEDI deal as a Dyson vacuum cleaner for more government work. The best technology? Yeah, right.
Stephen E Arnold, May 11, 2020
Putting Wood Behind the Toronto Project: Why Google Drops Projects
May 11, 2020
If DarkCyber were asked, “What cloud vendor should I use?”, the answer must consider persistence, consistency, and commitment.
Amazon, bless their prime heart, continues to take orders, deploy new AWS services, and make documentation which baffles. IBM is trying to turn its digital battleship into something capable of delivering AIops, whatever that is while it sells mainframes. Microsoft is pushing its Azure concept forward as it leaves the baffled Surface users and frustrated Window 10 update lovers at the altar. Even Oracle demonstrated that low prices can zoom forward.
But Google?
With the news reported in “Sidewalk Labs Announces It Will No Longer Pursue Quayside Project,” Google makes it clear that stick-to-ativity is not the company’s core competency. The write up states:
the economic circumstances made it “too difficult” to make the 12-acre project financially viable without sacrificing “core parts” of its plan. Sidewalk Labs, which has a 30-person office on the waterfront, will continue to work on some of its proposed innovations, including mass timber construction, a digital master-planning tool, and its approach to all-electric neighborhoods.
Ah, ha. Covid and not the push by Google to get money from tax and other assessments. Like other Google projects, this smart city thing is not really going away. It’s a pre beta testing thing.
What’s this have to do with Google’s cloud push? Decisions like waving goodbye to Toronto are tough to ignore. Forgetting Dodgeball and Web Accelerator are easy, but pulling out of Toronto is a major move.
Why does Google drop projects?
Google sells ads.
I am not convinced that its up to the task of delivering over time what government and commercial customers require; that is, confidence that Alphabet won’t spell “sayonara” with AdWords without warning. Automated ads are easier than creating something, overcoming hurdles, and persevering. Hey, let’s play ping pong. That putting wood behind a tough job for sure.
Stephen E Arnold, May 11, 2020
Googler Departing: Dr. Eric Schmidt and His Visibility
May 10, 2020
DarkCyber commented on the New York Times’ story about Eric Schmidt, a former Sun Microsystems professional. No, we did not comment about Google and Java. No we did not remark about our longing for NetWare’s compsurf.
Yes, we did suggest that the purpose of the write up “I Could Solve Most of Your Problems: Eric Schmidt’s Pentagon Offensive” was a PR play by Google.
That may have been part of the motivation. But we learned in “Eric Schmidt, Who Led Google’s Transformation into a Tech Giant, Has Left the Company” that the former “adult” at Google and leader of NetWare departed from the Google in February 2020.
Who knew?
Not the New York Times it seems.
As a result, an alternative motivating factor for the revelations assembled by the NYT could have been publicity for Dr. Schmidt himself.
That NYT story is probably a better job hunting tool that a short item in Microsoft LinkedIn. Just a hunch, of course.
When will that compsurf process be completed? A week, maybe more. By then, Dr. Schmidt may have a new post pandemic job. Is Palantir hiring? Does the White House have a job opening? Is Oracle poking around for an expert to advise the Dolphin Way outfit about Java? What about the Department of Defense as it navigates the Amazon Microsoft worlds of technology?
Opportunities are out there.
Stephen E Arnold, May 10, 2020
Once Proud, News Outfits Accept Handouts
May 8, 2020
News outlets have long refused government bailouts, because they are supposed to be free of government influence. News outlets are more COVID-19 victims and according to the Star Tribune’s article, “News Outlets, Long Resistant To Government Help, Take Loans” they are forced to take loans or fold their last paper newspaper.
During the crisis, news outlets, were forced to scale back as advertising and sales revenue were lost. Due to the profit loss, employees were furloughed and wages lowered. Government small business loans are acting like blood infusions for news outlets, because it allows them to pay employees and keep providing news. The conflicts of interest of taking the loans are concerning:
“Kelly McBride, ethics specialist at the Poynter journalism think tank, said she’s spoken to the heads of more than a dozen news organizations about applying for a loan.In each case, she advised them to go for it — a stance she could not have conceived advocating for at the beginning of the century. ‘On an industry level, we have crossed a threshold without putting a lot of thought into it,’ McBride said.
It’s clearly a conflict of interest, and not unreasonable for consumers to wonder if an organization receiving government money will aggressively report on what the government does, she said. It’s up to the news organizations to explain to consumers that they will still be closely watching how the stimulus package works.”
Despite taking government small business loans, news outlets are informing their readers/viewers that they are receiving the money but will remain steadfast to quality journalism. News outlets are not without their allies, because lobbyists have fought for news outlet relief in the next stimulus package. The government plans to spend $5 billion on health-related advertising with news outlets as part of the package.
Despite their ambivalence of journalists, politicians realize that local news outlets are important and want to keep them running.
Whitney Grace, May 7, 2020
Amazon from JEDI to Black Eye?
May 5, 2020
Who knows who lies today? Facebook executives remain baffled about user privacy and Cambridge Analytica? Google forgets that it has data about salaries? An Amazon executive explains a reality different from the world in which third-party resellers operate? Bleach, well, not relevant.
“House Panel Demands That Bezos Testify on Whether Amazon Misled Congress” has a catchy subtitle too:
The move marks the greatest escalation to date in the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust probe of Silicon Valley.
The basic idea is to put the driver of the Bezos bulldozer at one of those semi-gloss tables in a room used for hearings and sometimes other things. A group of elected officials will then ask questions, usually prepared by assistants. Each question typically nests within a polemic or a statement designed to get the elected official back in the fund raising game.
Here’s an interesting statement from the write up. The “Nadler” referenced is Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.):
Nadler railed against tech giants like Facebook and Amazon during a private fundraiser in February, warning that the power they possess “cannot be allowed to exist in society.” Nadler added that confronting concentration of power in the U.S. “means breaking up all the large companies,” though he did not specify which firms should be split apart.
The digital monopolies have been doing their thing for a couple of decades. Soon the driver of the Bezos bulldozer will appear and explain what the reality is.
And what is the reality? The Washington Post presents one view. Prime members have another. Third party resellers presumably have their perception as well.
Amazon moved from JEDI to a black eye.
No doubt Mr. Bezos’ view will be interesting. Maybe he will Amazon Chime in?*
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* Chime is Amazon’s video conferencing systems which let’s people work together, simplified.
Stephen E Arnold, May 5, 2020
Schmidt Versus Thiel May Be a Proxy for Google Trying Catch Up with Palantir
May 3, 2020
You will need to read the very, very long PR fest in the New York Times. I won’t do much with this story, so you will have to find the dead tree edition or pay to play to read “I Could Solve Most of Your Problems: Eric Schmidt’s Pentagon Offensive.” Yeah, hubris.
The headline does the job. But what’s with the PR push from the former CEO of Novell and then a similar job at Google.
But Google fired the Department of Defense. The current administration left Mr. Schmidt in his committee roles as the administration of Mr. Trump raced forward. Who accompanied him on his technology sprint? The Google, nope. The driver of the Bezos bulldozer? Not a chance.
Who then? Peter Thiel, the high profile Silicon Valley whiz, investor in Palantir Technologies and, probably as interesting, Anduril, a forward-leaning outfit engaged in primary data capture and action-oriented outputs for operators. Anduril, you say? Yes, I say.
Several items to keep in mind as this story wends its way through the pundit-verse:
- Mr. Trump is president, and he seems comfortable with the Palantir Technologies’ solutions
- Mr. Trump seems okay with Mr. Thiel
- Google dumped Maven and has been Googley in numerous US government endeavors. (This is nothing new because the behavior surfaced in the early days of the Mountain View tornado. Remember the objection regarding the FirstGov.gov contract award? Remember Mr. Brin’s wearing sparkly sneakers and a sporty T shirt to meetings with elected officials?)
Net net: Big PR coup and “real news” from the New York Times. The reality is that the the “real news” story is about Googler and the Google appear to be trying to regain traction—Traction lost with certain interesting behaviors. The problem is that the road to the White House has been subjected to abuse by the dozer tracks of other companies trying to reach the Valhalla of big money, multi year contracts. Googzilla my struggle for purchase where it counts. The NYT’s “real news” story may not be what Mr. Schmidt needs.
Stephen E Arnold, May 3, 2020
DARPA AI Contract Goes to BAE
May 2, 2020
We have been waiting for this announcement, but anyone rooting for a startup to snag this DARPA contract will be disappointed. Digital Battlespace reports, “DARPA Awards Machine Learning Analytics Contract to BAE Systems.” Yes, they went with the big, established, and experienced firm. The machine learning analytics services project is part of the agency’s Geospatial Cloud Analytics program. The brief write-up informs us:
“The services will be the first of their kind and will be cloud-based, according to BAE Systems. It will harvest open source data including commercial information and satellite imagery to provide situational awareness reports for the US government. The Multi-INT Analytics for Pattern Learning and Exploitation (MAPLE) technology will be used by BAE Systems FAST Labs to provide an approach which will free operators to query data for specific situations in real-time thus reducing the need for manual analysis. The cloud-based nature of the software makes it flexible and it can easily be scaled up as required by the end user.”
Established in 1999, BAE has grown into a huge operation—it now employs about 83,100 people around the world. The company specializes in a wide range of defense and aerospace systems for military and intelligence agencies. BAE’s DC activities flow from the firm’s Virginia offices.
Cynthia Murrell, May 2, 2020
A Russian System for Citizen Scanning
April 27, 2020
This may simply be propaganda, but it is interesting. Sputnik News tells us Russia is developing a new, frisk-less citizen search tool in its article, “Russian Engineers Working on Total Recall-Style Unobtrusive Screening System.” Under development at a subsidiary of defense contractor RTI Systems, the project should be completed by next year, we’re told. The tool would “discretely” scan people without having to stop them and use AI to recognize objects in real time. The article cites RTI’s Kirill Makarov as it relates:
“The scanning system is envisioned as a ten-meter corridor accommodating three inspection zones. Passing through these zones, a person can be examined remotely, with the computer determining what he or she is carrying or hiding. The system is expected to help authorities scan for carriers of illegal weapons, controlled substances, or other objects. According to the businessman, the institute tasked with creating the system is already in the process of receiving technical requirements from would-be customers, who see the complex’s unobtrusive nature and ability to work clandestinely as huge advantages. ‘At the moment such a thing is not being implemented anywhere else. Only Israel has something similar, but the low resolution with which they’re working does not allow for the use of neural networks for object recognition,’ Makarov boasted. Makarov also promised that between 85-90 percent of the system would be created using domestically-made components. As far as safety is concerned, the businessman pointed out that the complex will be based on non-ionizing radiation, making it safe for humans.
I suppose we’ll just have to take their word for that.
Cynthia Murrell, April 27, 2020
The JEDI Spat: A Dead End?
April 24, 2020
An online publication called GoCurrent.com published “No Winner Likely In JEDI Court Battle; ‘Just Pull The Plug?’: Greenwalt.”
Neither Amazon nor Microsoft will find the observations in the article acceptable.
The principle for the article is Bill Greenwalt, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. His thinking provides an interesting assessment of the JEDI spat.
Microsoft won the deal. Amazon protested. Now the can has been kicked down the road. The write up asserts:
… Because the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program is suffering so many delays while technology forges ahead, it is being litigated into irrelevance. By effectively dragging out the trial, the latest legal developments only make that worse.
DarkCyber circled this passage as well:
JEDI, likewise, tried to bypass the usual acquisition bureaucracy to get new technology in at the speed of Silicon Valley. But trying to run government procurement more like a business runs afoul of a fundamental problem. No private company lets losing bidders force it to do business with them; the government sometimes does.
The way to have avoided a winner-take-all tussle might have been for a more progressive approach; to wit, a multi-cloud approach. The article states:
Now, the Pentagon insists it won’t split the JEDI contract because it already has too many clouds. The different armed services, defense agencies, and their subunits are all signing different contracts on different terms – over 500 of them…If the Pentagon had gone multi-cloud from the start, “it would have then been, for a change, ahead of the commercial market,” Greenwalt said. “It could have been experimenting with cloud providers and other solutions that manage multiple clouds for the last two years.”
With more legal thrashing ahead, the friction in the procurement processes becomes evident. One can smell the disc brakes screeching.
Stephen E Arnold, April 24, 2020
Homeland Security Wants To Make Most of Its Data
April 24, 2020
The US Department of Homeland Security gathers terabytes of data relating to national security. One of the department’s biggest quandaries is figuring out how to share that information across all law enforcement agencies. FedTech explains how Homeland Security discovered a solution in the article, “DHS’ CDM Program Focuses On Shared Services Dashboard.”
The project for sharing data is officially from the Department of Homeland Security and is called Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program. The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program is a dashboard that gives IT leaders keener insights into cybersecurity vulnerabilities and how IT security compares to other agencies. From April 2020 to September 2020 (the end of the fiscal year), the Department of Homeland Security will pilot the dashboard. The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program uses Elasticsearch to power its enterprise search, metrics, and business analytics.
Kevin Cox is the manager for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program. Cox states that the program will be expanded beyond regular law enforcement agency:
“DHS is also focused on bringing in more agencies that were not originally participating in the CDM program, Cox tells Federal News Network. DHS needed to make sure they had asset management capabilities, awareness of the devices connected to their networks and identity and access management capabilities, according to Cox.
For 34 smaller, non-CFO Act agencies, DHS has provided them with a common shared service platform to serve as their CDM dashboard, although each small agency can see its own data individually as well, which is summarized in the larger federal dashboard.
Cox notes that this process has not been easy, and DHS benefits when it has flexibility to meet each individual agency’s cybersecurity data needs.”
One of the program’s goals is to see if the tool meets the desired requirements. Cox wants the data to be recorded, utilized on the dashboard, insights are found, and shared with agencies across the dashboard. It sounds like the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program is a social media platform that specializes in cybersecurity threats.
Whitney Grace, April 24, 2020
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