AWS executive says no misuse of its face biometrics by police, talks foreign government sales

Amazon Web Services | February 20, 2020

Andy Jassy, Amazon Web Services CEO, would have no problem selling the company’s facial recognition software Rekognition to law enforcement and foreign governments, except to those banned from doing business with U.S. companies, he said in an interview with Frontline, PBS reports. The statement was made last September during the filming of ‘Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos,’ when filmmakers interviewed six Amazon executives and nine previous employees about the company’s business strategy, development and interest in partnering with law enforcement. When interviewer James Jacoby said, despite certain bans, U.S.-based companies have still entered partnerships with countries accused of violating human rights, Jassy reiterated that in case of “documented cases where customers of any sort are using the technology in a way that’s against the law or that we think is impinging people’s civil liberties, then we won’t allow them to use the platform.”

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Leidos Adds Rancher Government Solutions to Alliance Partner Network

PR Newswire | July 11, 2023

Leidos, a FORTUNE® 500 science and technology leader, today announced the addition of Rancher Government Solutions (RGS), a complete open software stack for teams adopting containers, as an Emerging Technology Partner to the Leidos Alliance Partner Network (LAPN). Together, Leidos and RGS will address the unique and strict security and operational needs of the U.S. government and military as it relates to application modernization, containers and Kubernetes. LAPN drives innovation through a vast network of the world's leading technology companies and leverages significant expertise to provide solutions that deliver customer mission success. "Leidos is pleased to welcome Rancher Government Solutions to the Leidos Alliance Partner Network," said Derrick Pledger, Leidos Chief Information Officer. "We have worked together to develop edge-to-cloud architectures, execution patterns and secure Kubernetes methodologies. These will enable rapid capability deployments and at-scale systems modernization in support of U.S. government mission-owners across the defense, intelligence and health domains. We look forward to driving continuous modernization as well as helping our shared customers deliver mission outcomes on behalf of the nation." "Rancher Government Solutions is honored to be among the select group of technology companies chosen to be part of the Leidos Alliance Partner Network," said Sima Shahin, RGS Regional Vice President, Federal System Integrators. "It demonstrates that our commitment to delivering secure, interoperable, open-source Kubernetes and cloud native technologies to the U.S. government in a validated way has paid off. Together with Leidos, RGS will continue to advance mission success through digital transformation and application modernization." About Rancher Government Solutions Rancher Government Solutions is specifically designed to address the unique security and operational needs of the US Government and military as it relates to application modernization, containers and Kubernetes. Rancher is a complete open source software stack for teams adopting containers. It addresses the operational and security challenges of managing multiple Kubernetes clusters at scale, while providing DevOps teams with integrated tools for running containerized workloads. About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company's 46,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

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Emerging Technology

Hughes Awarded Space Force IDIQ Contract for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Services

PR Newswire | August 23, 2023

Hughes Network Systems LLC, an EchoStar company, today announced that it has been awarded a five-year, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the U.S. Space Force for proliferated Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based services. Under the IDIQ vehicle, valued at up to $900 million, U.S. Department of Defense, other federal agencies and international coalition partners can procure fully managed, low-latency LEO services from Hughes leveraging capacity on two constellations: OneWeb and EchoStar Lyra™. "As government and defense agencies explore the power and potential of LEO services in delivering capabilities to the warfighter faster and at lower cost, we're proud to offer not one, but two compelling solutions," said Leslie Blaker-Glass, vice president, Hughes. "Our OneWeb offering – with our low-power, light-weight, flat panel antenna – and our next-generation EchoStar Lyra S-band IoT system position us to deliver customers in the DoD and federal government robust and resilient low-latency connectivity at a competitive price." Hughes previously announced a distribution agreement with OneWeb Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of OneWeb, to deliver managed, wideband LEO services to the DoD; those services are now available under the IDIQ and the GSA Schedule. Also available under the IDIQ are narrowband services over the EchoStar Lyra constellation, the system that EchoStar, parent company of Hughes, is developing for Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and ongoing market development that includes 5G non-terrestrial networks (NTN). "These important LEO capabilities will give the DoD cost-effective solutions and added reliability and resiliency in satellite communications across all domains and we look forward to addressing upcoming requirements for procurement of these services," added Rick Lober, vice president and general manager, Defense and Government Systems Division, Hughes. About Hughes Hughes Network Systems LLC, an EchoStar company, provides broadband equipment and services; managed services featuring smart, software-defined networking; and end-to-end network operation for millions of consumers, businesses, governments and communities worldwide. The Hughes flagship internet service, HughesNet®, connects millions of people across the Americas, and the Hughes JUPITER™ System powers internet access for tens of millions more worldwide. Hughes supplies more than half the global satellite terminal market to leading satellite operators, in-flight service providers, mobile network operators and military customers. A managed network services provider, Hughes supports approximately half a million enterprise sites with its HughesON™ portfolio of wired and wireless solutions.

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Emerging Technology, Cybersecurity

IMB Partners Has Made a Strategic Investment in GovCon Provider eTelligent Group

PR Newswire | July 24, 2023

IMB Partners ("IMB"), a leading middle market private equity firm specializing in utility, industrial, and government contracting services ("GovCon"), today announced its strategic investment in eTelligent Group ("eTel"), a premier provider of emerging technologies and program management solutions to the U.S. Government. Founded in 2005, eTel has been leading the enterprise-wide transformation of critical business systems by managing the implementation and engineering of emerging technologies. Today, the company delivers digital transformation services primarily to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), utilizing capabilities that include agile software development, DevSecOps, IT Program Management Office (PMO), cybersecurity, web services, and big data. eTel has become a principal thought leader and solutions evangelist to the IRS, now positioned as the second-most active prime contractor on the IRS IT-EPMSS BPA contract vehicle. "We are excited to hit the ground running with the highly-skilled and experienced team of professionals at eTel," says Norman Yu, Director at IMB Partners. "The eTel team has laid some very impressive groundwork, and IMB sees a great opportunity to grow, diversify, and strengthen the business both inside and outside of the IRS. eTel is the partner we have been looking for, and we are ready to roll up our sleeves with eTel and further our commitment to serving the GovCon sector." With IMB's investment, eTel will be able to dedicate additional resources to professionally scale the overall organizational infrastructure and capabilities to undertake larger contracts. Additionally, this partnership will propel eTel to explore potential acquisitions to help diversify the customer base and build upon existing capabilities to best serve the U.S. Government. "Over the past 18 years, we have built a high performing team of industry leading professionals that are committed to our core company values of serving with excellence," says Ritesh Bansal, Managing Partner of eTel. "The proof is in our customer feedback: we're nimble, more efficient, and more responsive in delivering exceptional service. And now, with this partnership with IMB, we will have the means to extend the same exceptional service to more customers across new categories and invest significantly in building our strategic and operational framework," says Rohit Aggarwal, Managing Partner of eTel. About eTelligent Group eTel provides a proven team of talented IT professionals that provide reliable solutions for business & information technology management and services. eTel delivers IT services, agile and DevOps development, big data services, IT program management, and cyber security services. Working as a trusted partner of the Federal Government, eTel holds itself to the highest industry standards, including CMMI Level 3 and PMBOK. Learn more at etelligent-group.com. About IMB Partners Founded in 2010, IMB is a private equity sponsor focused on investing and partnering with management teams to grow lower middle market companies serving government agencies and electric and gas utilities. IMB believes that diversity is an asset and takes an entrepreneurial approach to building companies of scale. IMB seeks platform investment targets with $10-$250 million in revenue. Learn more at imbpartners.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.

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