AWS re:Invent 2016

Moving to the cloud requires (and attracts) scarce, expensive talent, say 3 big AWS users

by Dan Richman on December 8, 2016December 8, 2016 at 2:06 pmComment

Moving to Amazon Web Services is proving pricey for Matson, a Honolulu-based shipping company that last month announced it has abandoned its four data centers in favor of going all-in with AWS.… Read More

The busiest Amazon ’employee’ ever? Execs explain their plan to put Alexa everywhere

by Dan Richman on December 5, 2016December 5, 2016 at 3:14 pmComment

Amazon is crafting its Alexa voice-based digital assistant to be like one of its employees, and now, with the introduction of several new services at the Amazon Web Services re:Invent conference,… Read More

AWS cheat sheet: Here are the key re:Invent announcements to know about today

by Dan Richman on December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 at 11:43 amComment

LAS VEGAS — Amazon Web Services unleashed another wave of technologies today at its re:Invent conference during a keynote by Amazon CTO Werner Vogels that stretched across two hours. Here’s a rundown… Read More

Amazon debuts Pinpoint to help mobile developers engage users with targeted push notifications

by Taylor Soper on December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 at 10:35 amComment

For developers, building an app is hard enough. Actually getting people to use a product is another story. That’s why Amazon today debuted Amazon Pinpoint, a new mobile marketing analytics feature… Read More

Amazon enables AWS CodeBuild, a managed service to build applications

by Kevin Lisota on December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 at 11:35 amComment

While many developers use build servers running in AWS, typically those build environments are deployed, configured and managed by the developers themselves. Amazon is hoping to change this by providing… Read More

Amazon unveils AWS X-Ray and Personal Health Dashboard to help monitor application health in the cloud

by Kevin Lisota on December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 at 2:50 pmComment

Developers who deploy applications on AWS now have a new set of tools from Amazon to help them monitor and respond to application health and issues. At the AWS re:invent… Read More

Amazon Web Services unveils ‘Shield’ to protect sites from crippling online attacks

by Todd Bishop on December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 at 10:00 amComment

A little more than a month after a massive online assault took down Reddit, Netflix, Twitter and other major online properties, cloud giant Amazon Web Services this morning unveiled a new… Read More

AWS serves up new Chef integration, boosting Seattle-based software automation startup

by Dan Richman on December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 at 11:40 amComment

LAS VEGAS — This morning at the fifth annual re:Invent user’s conference, Seattle-based software-automation firm Chef announced that the full capabilities of its Automate commercial platform have been integrated into a new… Read More

Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy ‘optimistic’ AWS will become a $100B business, but no spinoff plans

by Dan Richman on November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 at 2:39 pmComment

LAS VEGAS — After his two-hour keynote at re:Invent 2016 this morning, Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy fielded questions from the 150 journalists who came to the conference from as… Read More

Book a trip with your voice? Travel giant Expedia launches new Amazon Alexa skill

by Monica Nickelsburg on November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 at 2:44 pmComment

Today, Expedia is rolling out a new skill for Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices in advance of the busiest travel season of the year. With the Expedia skill enabled, travelers can ask… Read More

Amazon reveals AWS Snowmobile, a 45-foot semi-trailer that moves exabytes of data to the cloud

by Dan Richman on November 30, 2016December 1, 2016 at 8:22 am 4 Comments

LAS VEGAS — Snowball, a physical device introduced by Amazon last year to quickly move 50 TB of data out of a data center into AWS’s cloud, has proved extremely… Read More

Amazon launches new artificial intelligence services for developers: Image recognition, text-to-speech, Alexa NLP

by Taylor Soper on November 30, 2016December 1, 2016 at 10:29 amComment

Amazon today announced three new artificial intelligence-related toolkits for developers building apps on Amazon Web Services. At the company’s AWS re:invent conference in Las Vegas, Amazon showed how developers can use… Read More

New Amazon Athena service enables SQL queries on data stored in Amazon S3

by Kevin Lisota on November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 at 3:51 pm1 Comment

Amazon introduced a new SQL query service called Amazon Athena at the re:invent conference in Las Vegas this morning. Athena enables SQL queries directly on data stored in the AWS… Read More

Amazon debuts new AWS features: FPGA instances, Elastic GPUs, virtual private servers, and more

by Dan Richman on November 30, 2016December 5, 2016 at 12:11 pmComment

LAS VEGAS — Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a host of new AWS features that make its online-computing rental simpler for basic users and far more powerful for those who need the… Read More

Amazon launches Amazon Lightsail with low-cost $5 virtual private servers

by Kevin Lisota on November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 at 9:41 amComment

Providers of low-costs virtual private servers (VPS) are facing a major new competitor this morning, as AWS announced the new Amazon Lightsail service at the re:invent conference this morning in… Read More

AWS Storage Gateway adds virtual on-premises file server and lowers pricing

by Kevin Lisota on November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:11 amComment

Amazon Web Services wants enterprises to move their data storage to the cloud, replacing on-premise file servers, SANs and backup solutions with cloud-based storage. Today at the AWS re:invent conference in… Read More

How cloud computing boosts NASA’s quest to explore the final frontier

by Alan Boyle on November 29, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:11 amComment

When one of NASA’s top geeks talks to the cloud-computing geeks at Amazon Web Services’ re:Invent conference, you can bet the talk is not going to be just about outer… Read More

Amazon Web Services says open-source MXNet will be the ‘foundation’ of future AI services

by Dan Richman on November 29, 2016November 30, 2016 at 7:54 am 2 Comments

LAS VEGAS — Amazon Web Services is making MXNet its deep-learning framework of choice, a top executive said this evening at the fifth annual re:Invent user’s conference. MXNet is an open-source… Read More

Amazon Web Services pledges to power data centers with 50% renewable energy by end of 2017

by John Cook on November 29, 2016November 30, 2016 at 7:50 amComment

Large-scale data centers consume huge amounts of power, but Amazon Web Services is making an effort to move more of its consumption to renewable energy sources such as wind and… Read More

NASA unveils a skill for Amazon’s Alexa that lets you ask questions about Mars

by Kevin Lisota on November 29, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:12 amComment

Amazon’s Alexa has gained many skills over the past year, such as being able to read tweets or deliver election results and fantasy football scores. Starting on Wednesday, you’ll be… Read More

Tableau goes with Amazon Web Services for new expansion into public cloud

by Todd Bishop on November 29, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:12 amComment

Seattle-based Tableau Software is making a big move into the public cloud, expanding the subscription-based, hosted version of its data visualization technology, Tableau Online, beyond its own data centers and onto Amazon… Read More

Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy implores partners to commit to AWS to receive business

by Kevin Lisota on November 29, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:12 amComment

Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy told a room full of its cloud partners and consultants to fully commit to AWS if they want the cloud giant to point customers… Read More

NASA’s mission to snag asteroid faces questions amid Trump transition

by Alan Boyle on November 29, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:15 amComment

House Republicans are voicing renewed doubts about NASA’s plan to have astronauts study a piece of an asteroid – a turn of events that was expected for the transition to the… Read More

Amazon unveils ‘AWS Organizations’ for managing multiple AWS accounts, courting big businesses

by Dan Richman on November 29, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:16 amComment

LAS VEGAS — Amazon Web Services made its first product announcement from its re:Invent 2016 conference here this evening, unveiling a new way for companies and other organizations to centrally manage multiple… Read More

What AWS customers are hoping to hear from Amazon’s cloud team in Las Vegas this week

by Dan Richman on November 28, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:16 am1 Comment

LAS VEGAS — Easier-to-understand pricing. Best practices. GovCloud enhancements. Those are some of the topics the roughly 28,000 people pouring into the Venetian, Encore and Mirage hotels want to learn… Read More

AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud: Prices depend on discounts and customer acuity, analysis shows

by Dan Richman on November 28, 2016November 30, 2016 at 6:16 am 2 Comments

LAS VEGAS — If you’re involved in information technology and the cloud, you’ve heard it before: trade capital expense (capex) for operating expense (opex)! Save tons of money on the cloud! You… Read More

Shipping firm Matson abandons its data centers for Amazon Web Services