The department can also work with vendors to ensure offerings meet strict Defense cybersecurity requirements, Lamb says, adding that the multicloud move has accelerated the departments shift away from outdated waterfall development processes into more agile workflows. Over time, Lamb expects early lessons will pay off in the form of applications that are fully optimized for a multicloud environment.

Were making sure that the service branches are sharing content with each other trying to take the best practices and leverage them, Lamb says. We want to build applications that leverage the best parts of Azure, the best parts of AWS, the best parts of Google, Oracle and future cloud service providers, to build applications that are more flexible. Thats where we see things going.

MORE FROM FED TECH: Backup and recovery best practices.

Along with redundancy and failover capabilities, one of the chief advantages of a multicloud model is the ability to move workloads to the best possible environment. Thats often easier said than done, Sustar says.

Users who embrace multicloud environments are increasingly focused on using the right cloud for the right workload at the right cost, Sustar says. Thats hard to do completely, as it isnt practical to change clouds for near-term price fluctuations. But it makes sense if customers can separate their core infrastructure services needs from higher-priced service, such as managed AI, which typically have more dependencies on a cloud providers infrastructure and raise the risk of vendor lock-in.

Within DOD, Lamb says, the decision on where to host resources is left largely to individual service branches, with the hope that IT leaders take advantage of the best of each cloud environment.

Were seeing service branches becoming centers of excellence for programs that are trying to migrate, he says.

Seville says he thinks of public cloud resources as three major tiers. In the tactical edge tier, warfighters access local, disconnected compute resources that eventually upload to a cloud environment. In the operational edge tier, applications run fully in the public cloud but in closer physical proximity to the warfighter to support performance demands. The strategic tier supports large-scale environments.

The benefit of having all of these cloud providers comes down to options and distribution capabilities, Seville says. Warfighters can take advantage of the locations and services and capabilities of four different providers, and pick and choose what they need.

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Defense Agencies Turn to Multicloud Strategy - FedTech Magazine

By Mauro Orru

Amazon.com plans to invest 15.7 billion euros ($17.04 billion) over the next decade to expand its cloud services in Spain, the latest pledge from the U.S. tech giant to bolster its presence in Europe at a time of growing demand for cloud and data services.

Amazon Web Services, the group's cloud-computing arm, said the investment would help it expand cloud infrastructure in Aragon, a landlocked region in northeastern Spain where AWS already has a presence. The company launched services there in late 2022 for users to directly store their data in Spain.

The group last year laid out plans for an independent sovereign cloud service in Europe, saying the project would help public sector organizations and customers in highly regulated industries to navigate evolving data-storage requirements.

In 2021, AWS had planned to pour EUR2.5 billion into Spain. The latest 10-year investment represents a more than sixfold increase to AWS's initial plan. Jorge Azcon, president of the regional government in Aragon, said the announcement was the largest investment from a company in the history of Aragon.

Amazon estimates the funding will support about 17,500 jobs a year in local businesses in industries including construction, facilities maintenance, engineering and telecommunications, adding roughly EUR21.6 billion to Spain's gross domestic product through to 2033.

The announcement comes one week after AWS said it would invest EUR7.8 billion through 2040 to expand its cloud services in Germany, with the first launch of its AWS European Sovereign Cloud project expected to take place in the state of Brandenburg by the end of 2025.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 22, 2024 09:32 ET (13:32 GMT)

Link:
Amazon to Invest $17 Billion in Spanish Cloud Infrastructure - Morningstar

AWS is investing $17 billion to expand its cloud and AI infrastructure services in Spain.

Amazons cloud business will expand its cloud infrastructure in the Aragn region of in northeastern Spain, creating 6,800 jobs across roles including construction, engineering and facilities maintenance.

AWS says its infrastructure expansion will contribute $24 billion to Spains gross domestic product. More than half of the contribution will come from the Aragn region, while also supporting 17,500 jobs in local businesses.

AWS' decision to choose Spain places us at the forefront of technology innovation and AI in Europe and confirms, once again, Spains ability to support technology talent and quality jobs in the long term, said Jos Luis Escriv, Spains minister for digital transformation and the public service. This new commitment by AWS spotlights our countrys attractiveness as a strategic tech hub in southern Europe and the connectivity, climate and energy conditions that make us an attractive location to the worlds most innovative companies.

AWS, like Microsoft, is expanding its computing infrastructure to support increased demand for cloud and AI services. Before its Spain expansion, AWS announced plans to double its cloud infrastructure in Singapore by 2028.

Related:AI Pioneer Andrew Ng Joins Amazons Board Amid AI Expansion

The companys latest news is an expansion of its 2021 plans to invest $2.7 billion in Spain.

The Spanish government is attempting to turn the Aragn region into a tech hub. Telco firm Telefnica, Insud Pharma and the Spanish Red Cross among the local customers leveraging AWS services there.

Since its arrival in Aragn, AWS has turned the region's potential for attracting technological investments into a reality, said Jorge Azcn, president of the Aragn regional government. AWS is a global company, but its involvement in the local ecosystem and the communities in which it operates have made it an Aragonese company. The investment we are announcing today is unique in the history of technology investments in our community and in Spain. It will definitively place Aragn on the map as a center of innovation and the cloud economy in Europe.

AWS says since 2022, its Aragn data centers have used 100% renewable energy. The company has pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Its Aragn sites also use technology to detect water loss in the local water system. The company also returns any unused water back to the local supply for reuse.

We will match the electricity used in our data centers in Aragn with 100% renewable sources and continue to look for different ways to innovate and run our operations more efficiently and sustainably, giving resources back to the communities where we have a presence, said Suzana Curic, AWS country manager for Spain and Portugal.

Related:Amazon Invests $4B to Advance Generative AI Tech to Customers

More here:
AWS Invests $17B in Spain for Cloud, AI Infrastructure Expansion - AI Business

News of Adam Selipskys departure from AWS may have shocked some industry stakeholders, but the last 18 months suggest the time is probably right for them to part ways.

Since becoming CEO in mid-2021, Selipsky has steered the company through choppy, often uncharted waters; a pandemic-fueled cloud surge, a marked industry spending decline, the emergence of generative AI, and something of a rebound.

AWS, like its counterparts in the global cloud computing industry, was soaring during the pandemic-era highs, recording solid quarterly revenue growth and maintaining its position as the dominant hyperscaler by market share.

But growth slowed significantly for AWS in 2023. In mid-2022, the cloud giant recorded 33% growth by Q3 the following year, this had plummeted to just 12%. A sizable and concerning downturn for the firm.

Tracy Woo, principal analyst at Forrester, said Selipskys departure wasnt a major shock when viewed through this lens.

Selipskys departure is unsurprising. AWS has seen slower growth under his tenure, she says.

AWS wasnt alone in this experience, Woo noted. Both Microsoft and Google Cloud fell victim to the sharp spending plunge across the industry as enterprises rode a wave of macroeconomic challenges.

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Slow cloud growth isnt necessarily a Selipsky issue but a cloud market issue, Woo added. All of the major cloud providers have seen slowed growth in the past 18 months.

A tech recession downturn and the frenzied cloud first mentality switching to a cloud as necessary mindset slowed a lot of cloud spend from the hyper growth we were used to seeing the previous five years.

For AWS, the issue wasnt just sluggish revenue growth, though. Since the advent of generative AI, sparked by OpenAIs launch of ChatGPT under the watchful eye of Microsoft, priorities have changed. Microsofts partnership with OpenAI gave it a distinct advantage over its main hyperscale rivals, with both AWS and Google Cloud taken by surprise.

At AWS re:Invent 2023, Selipsky used his keynote to poke fun at well-publicized issues surrounding AI safety and recent turmoil at OpenAI with CEO Sam Altmans ousting and swift return.

While jokes at the expense of competitors are somewhat expected, it did point toward a degree of insecurity at the hyperscaler. Microsoft soared past the trillion-dollar market cap mark in 2023 and recorded impressive growth toward the latter stages of the year; all of which was fueled by interest in generative AI.

Lee Sustar, principal analyst at Forrester, said this raises serious questions about how AWS can keep pace with Microsofts growing dominance in the generative AI space.

It still has the financial clout and the coveted market share, but failure to innovate at pace and match Microsoft in this regard could cause serious problems down the line.

AWS remains the market share leader by a long way, but the Microsoft/OpenAI combination has given Azure the initiative on bringing to market AI services as well as AI-infused versions of existing services, he said.

That poses a strategic question for AWS do they mimic Azures approach by moving up the technology stack or stick with the go built it approach thats been so successful.

While AWS has been sluggish to respond to Microsofts current dominance, Google has not.

Across late 2023 and into early 2024, the company made great strides in priming itself for a major battle with Microsoft. The launch of its powerful, multimodal Gemini models and the rebranding of Duet AI and Bard under this banner showed early signs that Google was stirring.

At Google Cloud Next in March 2024, the hyperscaler set the stage for this pending clash and appears to have fully articulated its strategy. With this in mind, AWS could find itself fighting a rearguard action on two fronts.

Sustar noted that this rapidly changing environment likely played a role in Selipskys departure. AWS may have come to the conclusion that new blood is needed to lead the charge in the year ahead.

Google Clouds steady advance in the enterprise market in part due its data, analytics and AI capabilities adds to the competitive pressure, Sustar said. So far, AWS hasnt signaled any shift in its approach but the question of how to move forward likely figured in Selipskys exit.

Its not all bad news for AWS, however, with the company having made some significant progress in its generative AI strategy over the last 18 months.

The launch of Amazon Bedrock, which allows users to access a range of in-house and third-party large language models (LLMs), has been a roaring success thus far.

In July last year, just months after Bedrock launched, Swami Sivasubramanian, VP for database, analytics, and machine learning at AWS, said the company had already drawn thousands of customers.

AWS re:Invent 2023 saw the firm further outline plans for its generative AI offerings, with the launch of Amazon Q, its own AI assistant akin to Microsoft Copilot.

This was hailed as a highly positive move and by all accounts at the time was highlighted as a key differentiator for the firm in keeping pace with Microsoft. But Google Cloud has also made a foray into this space with the launch of Gemini Code Assist and new Vertex AI Agents.

Selipsky, to his credit, appears to have rallied the troops at AWS in a similar fashion to Sundar Pichais efforts in early 2023 to take on Microsoft. But so far neither have shown signs of inflicting a major, industry-changing blow.

While it faces a major challenge in contending with both Microsoft and Google on the generative AI front, morale appears to be high at AWS.

In Q1 2024, the firm recorded 17% growth year-over-year, suggesting something of a rebound. Amazon CEO Andy Jassys comments on Selipskys departure also point to an optimistic outlook moving ahead.

Adam leaves AWS in a strong position, having reached a $100 billion annual revenue run rate this past quarter, with YoY revenue accelerating again, he said.

Selipskys successor, Matt Garman, currently serves as SVP for AWS sales and marketing and has been at Amazon for around 19 years. Jassy specifically highlighted the fact Garman has an intimate knowledge of the firm that will stand him in good stead.

Crucially, this could be exactly what AWS needs to press home its market advantage and mount a real challenge.

Read more:
Sluggish growth and blindsided by generative AI: Adam Selipsky's predictable departure from AWS - ITPro

Microsoft is asking nearly 10% of its China-based workforce to move to the U.S., Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand. According to Reuters, most affected workers are Chinese engineers working in the companys machine learning and cloud computing divisions key battlegrounds that the U.S. and China are vying for in their bid to gain technological supremacy.

This announcement came soon after the White Houses press release announcing increased tariffs on high-tech Chinese goods and can be seen as Microsofts reaction to keep the U.S. government happy. However, a Microsoft spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters that this was just a routine business move.

Providing internal opportunities is a regular part of managing our global business. As part of this process, we shared an optional internal transfer opportunity with a subset of employees, Microsoft said in its email. The spokesperson also added that Microsoft remains committed to China and will continue to operate there and other markets.

Although the company did not confirm how many employees received the transfer opportunity, internal sources say it affects 700 to 800 people. This is a substantial number of Microsofts China-based workforce. The Global Times reported in 2022 that Microsoft already had more than 9,000 full-time workers and was expected to hire over a thousand more in the following year.

There is no telling how many offers will be accepted, especially as this is optional for the employees. But even if a small number only accepts Microsofts proposal, this is a potential brain drain of Chinas top talent, especially given their highly niche specialties. After all, many former Microsoft employees eventually became leaders in top Chinese tech firms, including Baidu and TikTok-owner ByteDance.

Microsofts heavy presence in China has invited scrutiny from American lawmakers. In a March 2024 letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, U.S. Representative Pat Fallon said, What we seek to understand is if and how Microsofts broad usage across the U.S. federal government, close ties to [the Peoples Republic of China]s government and compliance with intrusive PRC laws threatens U.S. national and economic security.

He then adds, No U.S. company should be playing a role in supporting the Chinese government. It is critical that any such efforts be stopped, and that broader Chinese operations be carefully scrutinized. (via the New York Post)

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We cannot confirm whether the transfer offer is indeed a routine business decision or a move designed to keep American pressure off Microsofts China operations. However, with the emails coming so soon after the White Houses recent moves to up the ante in the Sino-American chip war, we cannot help but feel that Microsoft is taking steps to slowly move away from China and avoid U.S. sanctions.

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Microsoft offers to relocate nearly 10% of China-based staffers to the US or allied nations AI and cloud engineering ... - Tom's Hardware