AWS re:Invent 2022 Recap

We just wrapped up a great week at AWS re:Invent 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In case you missed it, keep reading to get a glimpse into our activities! We especially enjoyed the opportunity to meet with AWS customers and partners at our booth, where we held numerous lightning presentations on topics such as data modernization, AI and machine learning, cloud native development, migration and security.

This was our first year to sponsor AWS GameDay — and what a treat that was. GameDay is a collaborative learning exercise that tests skills in implementing AWS solutions to solve real-world problems in a gamified, risk-free environment. We had over 40 teams participate in our quest where they had to help launch Unicorn Sales with Rackspace Technology.

We had a great time meeting customers at our booth where they got to try our “Knights of AI” experience, which provided participants with a hands-on, interactive computer-vision demonstration that showcased how serverless and AI/machine learning technologies can combine to create an A(I)dventurous experience. Participants had 30 seconds to use their light sword to complete the knightly gestures and received  a keepsake GIF showcasing their skills at the end of the activity. Each day, top scorers won cool prizes for having the best Knights of AI poses. We even had an opportunity to have Adam Selipsky, AWS’s CEO stop by our booth and learn about all of the services and solutions Onica by Rackspace Technology is building to help our customers innovate on AWS.

Keynotes

Throughout the week, we attended keynote presentations from AWS CEO, Adam Selipsky, AWS experts and industry leaders from the world of cloud computing who shared many exciting announcements, the latest product launches, and inspiring customer stories. Our very own experts attended and summarized the keynotes, while providing their unique perspectives on the announcements and what they mean for the cloud industry over the coming years.

The keynotes officially kicked off with Monday Night Live with Peter DeSantis, Senior Vice President of AWS Utility Computing. DeSantis offered attendees a look into the design process behind AWS services, previewed some performance upgrades for EBS io2 Volume Types, introduced EC2 Instance Types and discussed how, sometimes, solving one problem can lead to breakthroughs in other areas. Check out the highlights to learn more.

AWS CEO Adam Selipsky shared the latest innovations in AWS and expressed an increased commitment to environmental responsibility. Attendees were witness to the flexibility and agility that AWS brings to organizations, especially in fluctuating markets. Product announcements included the new AWS Graviton 3 processors, AWS SimSpace Weaver and AWS QuickSite. To close, Selipsky previewed several new products and services that will be crucial to the secure access, utilization and management of ever-increasing volumes of data. Click here to read more about Selipsky’s keynote and details on the latest AWS products and services.

Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President of Data and Machine Learning at AWS, took his audience on a colorful trip through future-proofing data foundations, weaving connective tissue through data silos and democratizing data across an organization. Sivasubramanian announced the launch of both Amazon Athena for Apache Spark and Amazon DocumentDB Elastic Clusters. Learn more about what it takes for an organization to extract meaningful insights from data in our blog post containing highlights from Swami Sivasubramanian’s keynote.

A packed house was thrilled to welcome to the stage Ruba Borno, VP of AWS Worldwide Channels and Alliances. This was Borno’s first re:Invent since starting her new role, and she delivered an excellent keynote, during which she teamed with customers, partners and AWS CEO Adam Selipsky to tell the “Together. Unlimited.” story. Read more about Borno’s keynote and what she believes will be the keys to success for AWS Partners moving forward.

Dr. Werner Vogels, VP and Chief Technology Officer at Amazon, took the stage to explore event-driven patterns in the context of cloud design and... birds! In his allegory, Vogels used a flock of birds to exemplify how asynchronous designs tend to be better distributed and loosely coupled, and how this design philosophy is quite difficult to achieve. Following his beautifully painted picture, Vogels delivered product announcements and discussed further the need for simulation-based technology. Visit Dr. Werner Vogels’ keynote highlights to learn more.

re:Invent 2022 Breakout session:

Jeff DeVerter, CTO and Tech Evangelist for Onica by Rackspace Technology, explored innovation in global water management during his breakout session, “Ready, Set, Innovate: Building for the Future.” DeVerter was joined by Rick Gruenhagen, CTO of Innovyze, an Autodesk Company, and Boaz Brudner, Head of Innovyze SaaS Engineering AI & Architecture. Together, these leaders shared how Innovyze is leading the way in innovation across the full water value chain using AWS technologies for support of its operations, including design and modeling, analytics, asset management and maintenance, and predictive analytics based on real-time and forecast data. Watch the presentation here, and read our Innovyze customer case study here.

Onica by Rackspace Technology is proud to be an AWS Partner Network (APN) Premier Consulting Partner. This year’s re:Invent buzzed with a collective sense of innovation and optimism, and we’re thrilled to share in this excitement as we advise our customers and transform, manage and optimize the cloud solutions that drive their organizations forward. Download our ebook from re:Invent where we highlight our services and solutions to help you deliver the future on AWS.