re:Invent 2021 Recap – Global Partner Summit Keynote

At re:Invent 2021, the Global Partner Summit Keynote was all about AWS Partners and the key role they play in enabling companies across the globe transform their businesses by leveraging the cloud. In 2021, AWS and AWS partners worked on hundreds of thousands of opportunities, doubling the figures year over year. 

Doug Yeum, Head of AWS Partner Organization, Sandy Carter, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector Partners and Programs, and Stephen Orban, General Manager of AWS Marketplace and Control Services, took the stage this year, to shed light on the value of the AWS global partner network and announce AWS Marketplace updates in addition to programs that can help partners reach new businesses faster.

AWS Partner Paths

Replacing AWS’s technology and consulting partner type models, AWS Partner Paths provide a streamlined and intuitive way for partners to engage with AWS and access resources, benefits and programs. This program expands upon AWS’s ISV Partner Path (now renamed Software Path), launched last year, with support for more customer offerings – Software Path, Hardware Path, Training Path, Distribution Path and Services path. Partners can enroll in multiple Paths based on their business’s offerings.

Read more about AWS Partner Paths and the benefits they offer AWS partners here. 

AWS Graviton Ready Partners

AWS announced the new Graviton 3 processor at re:Invent 2021. Graviton is AWS’s custom built ARM-based processor that maximizes performance and efficiency for workloads in Amazon EC2. Companies with use cases such as CPU based ML inference, video encoding and other high performance computation, can see significant improvements in speed while enjoying cheaper cost of operation. According to AWS, “AWS Graviton3 processors provide up to 25% better compute performance, up to 2x higher floating-point performance, and up to 2x faster cryptographic workload performance compared to AWS Graviton2 processors. They also support DDR5 memory that provides 50% more memory bandwidth compared to DDR4.” Read more about AWS Graviton here.

The AWS Graviton Ready Program, part of the AWS Service Ready Program, validates software products developed by AWS partners for integration with AWS Graviton. AWS Graviton Ready Partners provide customers with Graviton enabled software offerings that range from operating systems and platform services, to security, CI/CD, data and analytics and more. 

AWS Competency Partner Program 

AWS Migration and Modernization Competency

Companies that adopt the AWS cloud, increasingly look to modernize their applications to take advantage of cloud native features. To help companies find the best partners for their modernization initiatives, AWS announced the Migration and Modernization Competency that validates AWS Partners on their expertise in developing and implementing migration and modernization software solutions.

Partners with this designation can serve customers across key areas such as:

• Discovery, planning, and recommendation
• Business case analysis
• Application mobility
• Data mobility
• Application monitoring and orchestration

AWS Mainframe Migration Competency 

AWS customers look to migrating their workloads off mainframe systems to reduce technical debt and take advantage of the cloud’s agility, scalability and significant cost savings potential. AWS announced the Mainframe Modernization service – a platform designed to help customers and partners in the planning, migration, modernization and operation of their on-premises mainframe workloads to AWS managed development and execution environments. The service enables both replatforming using Micro Focus and automated refactoring through Blue Age. 

AWS has also included Mainframe Migration to their competency program, validating partner developed solutions that help mainframe customers accelerate their cloud journeys. In combination with the AWS Migration Acceleration Program for Mainframe, customers can move their mainframe workloads to the cloud rapidly and cost effectively while adhering to best practices. 

AWS Energy Competency

With energy demand forecasted to rise significantly, the energy industry is innovating at lightning speed to address growing demand in a responsible way. Technologies such as cloud computing, IoT, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are helping these companies reduce capital and operating costs while improving operational efficiencies and supporting development for renewable energy initiatives. The AWS Energy Competency Program validates highly specialized AWS Partners with demonstrated technical expertise and customer success. 

AWS Marketplace

In 2021, AWS partners sold products and services amounting to billions of dollars over AWS Marketplace, shared Stephen Orban. AWS Marketplace is now a key enabler of digital transformation, with over 310,000 active customers utilizing hosted services. Launched with self-service AMIs in 2012, Marketplace has grown over the years, adding annual software subscriptions, AWS Service Catalog, AWS CloudFormation support, AWS Marketplace Metering Service for AMIs and SaaS, AWS Marketplace for Containers & AWS Data Exchange over the last 9 years. 

This year, AWS Marketplace received further updates and additions.

AWS Data Exchange for Amazon Redshift

AWS Data Exchange for Amazon Redshift is a brand new service that allows you to find and subscribe to third-party data in AWS Data Exchange which can be rapidly queried in an Amazon Redshift data warehouse. Designed to help you quickly query, analyze and build applications with third party data, AWS Data Exchange for Amazon Redshift offers data providers access to multiple data types, eliminates heavy lifting when it comes to invoicing and payments, and helps them improve business intelligence by tracking what data tables are most used by their subscribers. For subscribers, the service helps improve time to value, ensures the availability of current data, and allows the management of data in one place. 

AWS Data Exchange for APIs

AWS Data Exchange for API allows users to find, subscribe to and utilize third-party APIs with consistent access using AWS SDKs and consistent AWS-native authentication & governance. 

AWS Marketplace for Containers Anywhere

AWS customers use the Marketplace to find and subscribe to containerized third-party applications and deploy them in Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS. AWS Marketplace for Containers Anywhere allows AWS customers to find and deploy third party Kubernetes applications in any environment, from on-prem using Amazon EKS anywhere or any customer self-managed Kubernetes cluster in on-prem environments or in Amazon EC2. 

AWS re/start

AWS re/start is a full-time, classroom-based skill development and training program that helps individuals prepare for careers in cloud computing. The course offerings include hands-on labs, coursework and scenario-based exercises, with a focus on AWS Cloud fundamentals to help students succeed in entry-level cloud positions.

AWS Think Big for Small Business Program

For small or minority-owned public sector organizations, the AWS Think Big for Small Business Program offers business, technical and marketing support. Though this program, partners supporting these public sector organizations get expedited access to AWS Partners Programs, increased visibility with AWS customers and teams as well as access to financial incentives.

If you’re looking for help with leveraging AWS for your cloud native initiatives, get in touch with our team!