AWS re:Invent 2019 Recap

Last week was re:Invent, AWS’s big customer and partner conference. I got a bunch of free socks from enterprise software companies, and AWS announced a ton of new products and services.

Here’s a good list of the new product announcements. Key takeaways…

• There were a ton of announcements around databases, data management, analytics, and ML/AI services
• AWS is also launching more ML apps (i.e., not just providing infrastructure or platform services), such as a call center app, a code review app, a fraud detection app, and a medical transcription app
• ➡️ Moving beyond infrastructure, AWS wants to become the “data layer” for applications, and they are both building top-down apps to collect this data from customers, and building bottom-up services for customers to get value out of their existing data

• AWS Outposts (announced last year) is now generally available, so customers can order an Outpost and use AWS services on-prem
• AWS announced Local Zones, a new type of data center that places infrastructure closer to end users and “Wavelength Zones,” which use 5G networks to enable low-latency edge device compute and storage
• ➡️ AWS is working to deliver its services everywhere, from its own data centers, to on-prem data centers, to local metro areas, and through the cellular networks

Overall, always interesting to see the rapid pace of innovation at AWS and to see what they are highlighting as key areas of investment.

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