Sunday Reading — October 27, 2019

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Enterprise Te.ch

5 min readOct 27, 2019

JEDI Mind Tricks: Microsoft was awarded a $10 billion, 10-year contract by by the US Department of Defense on Friday, capping a highly contested fight over which tech giant would build the military’s cloud computing services.

The massive contract, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, was widely expected to be awarded to Amazon Web Services which currently manages the cloud computing services for the Central Intelligence Agency. From CNBC:

Early in the process Amazon was seen as the favorite, partly because its AWS business won a deal with the CIA in 2013. Also Amazon had been certified at the highest existing security clearance level, while Microsoft sought to catch up.
Other, smaller cloud rivals like IBM and Oracle were kicked out earlier in the process, which has been contentious and delayed.

This is ultimately good for the tech industry and all cloud consumers. Microsoft Azure’s diverse ecosystem will deliver broad benefits which will cascade across the industry. This is exactly the competitive environment we need and AWS will continue to innovate and get better. This is a rare win-win-win.

But it’s not without controversy. Also from CNBC:

In the summer of 2018, President Trump called Mattis and directed him to “screw Amazon” out of a chance to bid on the JEDI contract, according to the forthcoming book “Holding The Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon with Secretary Mattis.” The account was written by Guy Snodgrass, who served as a speechwriter for Mattis.
“Relaying the story to us during Small Group, Mattis said, ‘We’re not going to do that. This will be done by the book, both legally and ethically,’” Snodgrass writes. CNBC has reviewed the relevant passages of the book.

Most pundits and analysts expect Amazon to appeal the contract but their success will be an uphill battle at this point:

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called the deal a “game changer” for Microsoft, writing in a note to clients that the deal “will have a ripple effect for the company’s cloud business for years to come.” He also said that he expects Amazon to challenge the outcome in court, but for Microsoft to prevail.

Non-competes: AWS had a partial victory (or partial loss depending where you sit) that limits former salesperson Phillip Moyer’s work with Google Cloud based on the non-compete he signed while working for the cloud giant. From The Register:

Moyer insisted his new job would not involve any contact with previous financial services clients and that healthcare is a fundamentally different market. But Jeff Bezos’s firm claimed Moyer’s access to confidential information and company strategy means he couldn’t work for Google — even outside the financial services field.
The court has granted Amazon a preliminary injunction, although it said AWS had overstated Moyer’s involvement in certain areas of the business. The main condition of the injunction is that Moyer is prohibited from working with Google Cloud’s financial services customers. While that isn’t an issue now — as he works for the healthcare vertical — it does prevent his career mobility later down the line.
US District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez said in the filing that “the Court does not look favorably on Amazon’s apparent practices.”
Moyer is also prohibited from “contacting existing AWS customers, including healthcare customers”, as well as any financial services firms he’d worked with in his previous role at AWS. The judge also ordered he refrain from contacting any potential AWS or Google Cloud customers in the finance sector.Moyer insisted his new job would not involve any contact with previous financial services clients and that healthcare is a fundamentally different market. But Jeff Bezos’s firm claimed Moyer’s access to confidential information and company strategy means he couldn’t work for Google — even outside the financial services field.

Tricky AI: Facebook AI Research (FAIR) has developed a state-of-the-art “de-identification” system that works on video, including even live video. It works by altering key facial features of a video subject in real time using machine learning, to trick a facial recognition system into improperly identifying the subject. From VentureBeat:

Facebook AI Research says it’s created a machine learning system for de-identification of individuals in video. Startups like D-ID and a number of previous works have made de-identification technology for still images, but this is the first one that works on video. In initial tests, the method was able to thwart state-of-the-art facial recognition systems.
The AI for automatic video modification doesn’t need to be retrained to be applied to each video. It maps a slightly distorted version on a person’s face in order to make it difficult for facial recognition technology to identify a person.

NetApp: 10 Takeaways from Grace Hopper Celebration 2019 — Anna Schlegel

This fall, more than 25,000 people gathered in Orlando to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC), the world’s largest gathering of women technologists. Held in various locations across the US every year, the event offers an incredible opportunity to attend keynotes from top technologists, network with peers, and gain important resources to help women succeed in and further their careers.

NetApp has been involved with GHC since 2008 and was proud to send over 200 employees to this year’s event. Two of the most popular breakout sessions were led by NetApp’s own Sheila O’Connor, who discussed how to stay focused in a world that is increasingly full of distractions, and Rachelle Helton, who shared tips on how to cultivate mentors.

NetApp was also pleased to sponsor select students to attend GHC19, enabling them to network with senior leaders, NetApp engineers, Women in Technology members, and even attend exclusive events throughout the week. Read more…