Welcome back friends! AWS re:Invent turns 10 this year and once again 2nd Watch is here to help you navigate it like a pro. As we all know now, AWS re:Invent 2021 is back in person in Las Vegas. One addition this year, Amazon Web Services is also offering a virtual event option… well, kind of…. As it currently stands, only the keynotes and leadership sessions will be live streamed for the virtual attendees. Breakout sessions will only be live for in person attendees, but will be available on-demand after the event.
For the rest of this blog I will try to focus on my thoughts and limit my regurgitation of all the information that you can get from the AWS re:Invent website, such as the AWS Code of Conduct, but I think it’s worth noting what I think are some key highlights that you should know. Oh, and one more thing. I have added a small easter egg to this year’s blog. If you can find a Stan Lee reference, shoot me an email: dustin@2ndwatch.com and call it out. One winner will be picked at random and sent a $25 Amazon gift card. Now let’s get to it.
Some important things to note this year
Now that AWS re:Invent is (mostly) back in person, AWS is implementing proper health measures to prevent the spread of COVID. Make sure to review the health guidelines published by AWS. (https://reinvent.awsevents.com/health-measures/). Here is the summary for those that don’t enjoy more eye exercise than necessary. Refer to aforementioned link for more details and FAQ’s if you do.
All badge holders attending in person must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 (2 weeks after final shot) which means you must provide a record of vaccination in order to receive your badge. AWS makes it clear that there are no ifs, ands or buts on this. No vax proof, no badge. ‘Nuff said!
Masks will be required for everyone at the event. Real ones. Unfortunately face lingerie and train robber disguises will not count.
Keynotes at Glance
This year’s keynotes give you the best of both worlds with both a live option for in person attendees and on-demand viewing option for virtual attendees. The 2021 keynotes include:
Adam Selipsky, AWS CEO
Peter DeSantis, Senior Vice President, Utility Computing and Apps
Global Partner Summit presented by Doug Yeum, Head of AWS Partner Organization, Sandy Carter, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector Partners and Programs, and Stephan Orban, General Manager of AWS Marketplace and Control Services
2nd Watch Tips n’ Tricks
Over the last 9 years we have watched the AWS re:Invent conference morph into a goliath of an event. Through our tenure there we have picked up an abundance of tips n’ tricks to help us navigate the waters. Some of these you may have seen from my previous blogs, but they still hold strong value, so I have decided to include them. I have also added a couple new gems to the list.
App for the win – I cannot stress this one enough. Download and use the AWS Events app. This will help you manage your time as well as navigate around and between the venues.
Embrace your extravert – Consider signing up for the Builder Sessions, Workshops, and Chalk Talks instead of just Breakout sessions. These are often interactive and a great way to learn with your peers.
Watch for repeats– AWS is known for adding in repeat Breakout sessions for ones that are extremely popular. Keep your eye on the AWS Events app for updates throughout the week.
Get ahead of the pack– After Adam Selipsky’s Keynote there will likely be sessions released to cover off on new services that are announced. Get ahead of the pack by attending these.
No fomo – Most of the Breakout sessions are recorded and posted online after re:Invent is over. Fear not if you miss a session that you had your eyes on, you can always view it later while eating your lunch, on a break or doing your business.
Get engaged – Don’t be afraid to engage with presenters after the sessions. They are typically there to provide information and love answering questions. Some presenters will also offer up their contact information so that you can follow up again at a later time. Don’t be shy and snag some contact cards for topics relevant to your interests.
Bring the XL suitcase – Now that we are back in person, get ready to fill that swag bag! You will need room to bring all that stuff home so have extra room in your suitcase when you arrive.
Don’t just swag and run – Look, we all love stuffing the XL suitcase with swag, but don’t forget to engage your peers at the booths while hunting the hottest swag give-a-ways. Remember that part of the re:Invent experience is to make connections and meet people in your industry. Enjoy it. Even if it makes you a little uncomfortable.
Pro tip! Another option if you missed out on a reserving a session you wanted is to try and schedule something else that is near it at the same time. This will allow you to do a drive by on the session you really wanted and see if there is an open spot. Worst case, head to your back up session that you were able to schedule.
Our re:Invent Predictions
Now that we have you well prepared for the conference, here are a couple of our predictions for what we will see this year. We are not always right on these, but it’s always fun to guess.
RDS savings plans will become a reality.
Specialty instance types targeted at specific workloads (similar to the new VT1 instance they just announced focused on video).
Security hub add-ons for more diverse compliance scanning.
Expanded playbooks for compliance remediation.
More compliance frameworks to choose from.
Potential enhancements to Control Tower.
Virtual only attendees will not get the opportunity for the coveted re:Invent hoodie this year.
In Closing…
We are sure that after December 3rd there will be an overwhelming number of new services to sift through but once the re:Invent 2021 hangover subsides, 2nd Watch will be at the ready and by your side to help you consume and adopt the BEST solutions for your cloud journey. Swing by our booth #702 for some swag and a chat. We are giving away Gretsch Guitars we are super excited to see you!
Finally, don’t forget to schedule a meeting with one of our AWS Cloud Solution Experts while you’re at re:Invent. We would love to hear all about your cloud journey! We hope you are as excited as we are this year and we look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas.
-Dustin Snyder, Director of Cloud Infrastructure & Architecture
In cloud migrations, the elastic nature of the cloud is often touted as a critical capability in delivering on a business’ key initiatives. However, if not accounted for in your Security and Compliance plans, you could be facing some real challenges. Always counting on a virtual host to be running, for example, will cause issues when that host is rebooted or retired. This is why managing Security and Compliance in the cloud is a continuous action requiring both forethought and automation.
At AWS re:Invent 2017, 2nd Watch hosted a breakout session titled “Continuous Compliance on AWS at Scale” where attendees learned how a leading, next generation, Managed Cloud Provider uses automation and cloud expertise to successfully manage Security and Compliance at scale in an ever-changing environment. This journey starts with account creation, goes through deployment of infrastructure and code and never ends.
Through code examples and live demos, presenters Peter Meister and Lars Cromley demonstrated the tools and automation you can use to provide continuous compliance of your cloud infrastructure from inception to ongoing management. In case you missed the session or simply wish to get a refresher on the content that was presented, you can now view the breakout session recording below.
Thursday’s General Session Keynote kicked off with Amazon CTO, Werner Vogels, taking the stage to deliver additional product and services announcements with the inclusion of deeper, technical content. Revisiting his vision for 21st Architectures from the 1st Re:Invent in 2012, Werner focused on what he sees as key guiding principles for next-gen workloads.
Voice represents the next major disruption in computing. Stressing this point, Werner announced the general availability of Alexa for Business to help improve productivity by introducing voice automation into your business.
Use automation to make experimentation easier
Encryption is the ‘key’ to controlling access to your data. As such, encrypting data (at rest and in transit) should be a default behavior.
All the code you should ever write is business logic.
Werner also highlighted the fact that AWS now has over 3,951 new services released since 2012. These services were not built for today but built for the workloads of the future. The goal for AWS, Werner says, is to be your partner for the future.
One of the highlights of the keynote was when Abby Fuller, evangelist for containers at AWS, came on stage to talk about the future of containers at AWS. She demoed the use of Fargate which is AWS’s fully managed container service. Think of Fargate as Elastic Beanstalk but for containers. Per AWS documentation “It’s a technology that allows you to use containers as a fundamental compute primitive without having to manage the underlying instances. All you need to do is build your container image, specify the CPU and memory requirements, define your networking and IAM policies, and launch. With Fargate, you have flexible options to closely match your application needs and you’re billed with per-second granularity.”
The Cloud9 acquisition was also a highlight of the keynote. Cloud9 is a browser-based IDE for developers. Cloud9 is completely integrated with AWS and you can create cloud environments, develop code, and push that code to your cloud environment all from within the tool. It’s really going to be useful for writing and debugging lambda functions for developers that have gone all in on serverless technologies.
New Announcements
AWS Lambda Function Execution Activity Logging – Log all execution activity for your Lambda functions. Previously you could only log events but this allows you to log data events and get additional details.
AWS Lambda Doubles Maximum Memory Capacity for Lambda Functions – You can now allocate 3008MB of memory to your AWS Lambda functions.
AWS Cloud9 – Cloud9 is a cloud based IDE for writing, running, and debugging your code.
API Gateway now supports endpoint integrations with Private VPCs – You can now provide access to HTTP(S) resources within your Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) without exposing them directly to the public Internet.
AWS Serverless Application Repository – The Serverless Application Repository is a collection of serverless applications published by developers, companies, and partners in the serverless community.
We expect AWS to announce many more awesome features and services before the day ends so stay tuned for our AWS re:Invent 2017 Products & Services Review and 2017 Conference Recap blog posts for a summary of all of the announcements that are being delivered at AWS re:Invent 2017.
I have been looking forward to Andy Jassy’s keynote since I arrived in Las Vegas. Like the rest of the nearly 50k cloud-geeks in attendance, I couldn’t wait to learn about all of the cool new services and feature enhancements that will be unleashed that can solve problems for our clients, or inspire us to challenge convention in new ways.
Ok, I’ll admit it. I also look forward to the drama of the now obligatory jabs at Oracle, too!
Andy’s 2017 keynote was no exception to the legacy of previous re:Invents on those counts, but my takeaway from this year is that AWS has been able to parlay their flywheel momentum of growth in IaaS to build a wide range of higher-level managed services. The thrill I once got from new EC2 instance type releases has given way to my excitement for Lambda and event-based computing, edge computing and IoT, and of course AI/ML!
AWS Knows AI/ML
Of all the topics covered in the keynote, the theme that continues to resonate throughout this conference for me is that AWS wants people to know that they are the leader in AI and machine learning. As an attendee, I received an online survey from Amazon prior to the conference asking for my opinion on AWS’s position as a leader in the AI/ML space. While I have no doubts that Amazon has unmatched compute and storage capacity, and certainly has access to a wealth of information to train models, how does one actually measure a cloud provider’s AI/ML competency? Am I even qualified to answer without an advanced math degree?
That survey sure makes a lot more sense to me following the keynote as I now have a better idea of what “heavy lifting” a cloud provider can offload from the traditional process.
Amazon has introduced SageMaker, a fully managed service that enables data scientists and developers to quickly and easily build, train, and deploy machine learning models at any scale. It integrates with S3, and with RDS, DynamoDB, and Redshift by way of AWS Glue. It provides managed Jupyter notebooks and even comes supercharged with several common ML algorithms that have been tuned for “10x” performance!
In addition to SageMaker, we were introduced to Amazon Comprehend, a natural language processing (NLP) service that uses machine learning to analyze text. I personally am excited to integrate this into future chatbot projects, but the applications I see for this service are numerous.
After you’ve built and trained your models, you can run them in the cloud, or with the help of AWS Greengrass and its new machine learning inference feature, you can bring those beauties to the edge!
What is a practical application for running ML inference at the edge you might ask?
Dr. Matt Wood demoed a new hardware device called DeepLens for the audience that does just that! DeepLens is a deep-learning enabled wireless video camera specifically designed to help developers of all skill levels grow their machine learning skills through hands-on computer vision tutorials. Not only is this an incredibly cool device to get to hack around with, but it signals Amazon’s dedication to raising the bar when it comes to AI and machine learning by focusing on the wet-ware: hungry minds looking to take their first steps.
Andy’s keynote included much more than just AI/ML, but to me, the latest AI/ML services that were announced on Tuesday represent the signal of Amazon’s future of higher-level services which will keep them the dominant cloud provider into the future.
The sixth annual AWS re:Invent is less than a week away, taking place November 27-December 1 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Designed for AWS customers, enthusiasts, and even cloud computing newcomers. The nearly week-long conference is a great source of information and education for attendees of all skill levels. AWS re:Invent is THE place to connect, engage, and discuss current AWS products and services via breakout sessions ranging from introductory and advanced to expert as well as to hear the news and announcements from key AWS executives, partners, and customers. This year’s agenda offers a full additional day of content, boot camps, hands-on labs, workshops, new Alexa Hack Your Office and Smart Cities hackathons, a Robocar Rally, and the first ever Deep Learning Summit. Designed for developers to learn about the latest in deep learning research and emerging trends, attendees of the Deep Learning Summit will hear from members of the academic and venture capital communities who will share their perspectives in a series of thirty-minute lightening talks. To offer all of its great educational content, networking opportunities and recreational activities, AWS is practically taking over the Las Vegas strip, offering an expanded campus with a larger re:Invent footprint and more venues (not to mention a shuttle service!).
2nd Watch is proud to be a 2017 Platinum Sponsor and attending AWS re:Invent for the sixth consecutive year. With every re:Invent conference we attend, we continue to gain unique insight into what attendees can expect. Similar to last year, our seasoned re:Invent alumni have compiled a list of TheTop 7 Things to Avoid at re:Invent 2017 and we hope you find the following information useful as you prepare to attend AWS re:Invent next week.
1. Avoid the long lines at Registration (and at the Swag Counter!)
The re:Invent Registration Desk will open early again this year starting Sunday afternoon from 1pm-10pm, giving attendees a few extra hours to check in and secure their conference badges. Registration Desks are located in four locations this year—Aria, MGM Grand, Mirage, and The Venetian—so no matter where your hotel room is along the strip, you’re sure to find a Registration Desk close by. This is particularly helpful so that you don’t have to schlepp around all that conference swag you will receive upon check in. As always, you can’t attend any part of re:Invent until you have your conference badge so be sure you check into Registration as early as possible. This will also ensure that you get the size shirt you want from the Swag Counter!
Expert Tip: Like last year, AWS has added an additional level of security and will be printing each attendee’s photograph onto their badge. Avoid creating a backlog at the registration line because you have to have your photo taken on site. Take a few minutes to upload your photo prior to re:Invent here. BONUS: By uploading your own photo, you make sure to put your best face forward for the week.
2. Avoid Arriving Without a Plan:
The worst thing you can do at re:Invent is show up without a plan for how you will spend your week in Vegas—that includes the breakout sessions you want to attend. With expanded venues and a total of over 1,000 sessions (twice as many as 2016), more hands-on labs, boot camps and one-on-one engagement opportunities, AWS re:Invent 2017 offers more breadth and depth and more chances to learn from the experts than ever before.
If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out the AWS Event Catalogue and start selecting the sessions that matter most to you. While you’re building your session schedule, might I recommend adding 2nd Watch’s breakout session—Continuous Compliance on AWS at Scale—to your list of must attend sessions? This session will be led by cloud security experts Peter Meister and Lars Cromley and will focus on the need for continuous security and compliance in cloud migrations. Attendees will learn how a managed cloud provider can use automation and cloud expertise to successfully control these issues at scale in a constantly changing cloud environment. Find it in the Event Catalog by searching for SID313 and then add it to your session agenda. Or, click here to skip the search and go directly to the session page.
Expert Tip: Be sure to download the AWS re:Invent Mobile App. Leveraging the mobile app is like having your own, personal re:Invent assistant for the week and will hold your re:Invent schedule, maps from venue to venue, all other activities and reminders, providing a super helpful resource as you navigate the conference. Android users click here to download. Apple users click here to download.
3. Avoid Avoiding the Waitlist
AWS re:Invent 2017 is SOLD OUT and we anticipate nearly 50,000 people to be in attendance this year. That means, if you haven’t already built your session agenda for the week, you’re likely to find that the *ONE SESSION* you needed to attend is already at capacity. Avoid missing out on sessions by adding yourself to the waitlist for any sessions that you really want to attend. You will be surprised by the number of people that “no-show” to sessions that they have registered for so don’t be afraid to stand in line for that all-too-important session.
4. Avoid Not Knowing Where to Go
As mentioned previously, the re:Invent campus has expanded, yet again, this year and there are a few more venues to note when preparing your event schedule. Spanning the length of the Las Vegas strip, events will occur at the MGM Grand, Aria, Mirage, Venetian, Palazzo, Sands Expo Hall, the Linq Parking Lot, and the Encore. Each venue will host tracts devoted to specific topics so to help you get organized—and map out your week, literally—here’s what you can expect to find at each venue:
MGM Grand: Business Apps, Enterprise, Security, Compliance, Identity, and Windows. Aria: Analytics & Big Data, Alexa, Container, IoT, AI & Machine Learning, and Serverless. Mirage: Bootcamps, Certifications, and Certification Exams. Venetian / Palazzo / Sands Expo Hall: Architecture, AWS Marketplace & Service Catalog, Compute, Content Delivery, Database, DevOps, Mobile, Networking, and Storage. Linq Lot: Alexa Hackathons, Gameday, Jam Sessions, re:Play Party, and Speaker Meet & Greets. Encore:Bookable meeting space.
Once you’ve nailed down where you need to be, be sure to allow enough time to get from session to session. While there are breaks between sessions, some venues can be a bit of a hike from others so be sure to plan accordingly. You’ll want to factor in the time it takes to walk between venues as well as the number of people that will be doing the same. As re:Invent continues to grow in size, you can certainly expect that escalators, elevators, hallways, sidewalks and lengthy shuttle lines are going to be difficult to navigate. To help you get a sense of standard walking times between venues, AWS has put together a nifty chart that details all the travel information you might need (minus any stops on casino floors or crowds of folks clogging your path).
This year, AWS is offering a shuttle service between venues if you don’t want to walk or need to get to your next destination quickly.
AWS recommends allowing yourself 30 minutes to travel between venues and is providing the following shuttle schedule to help you get from Point A to Point B:
Sunday, November 26: 12PM-1:30AM Monday, November 27: 6AM-12:30AM Tuesday, November 28: 6AM-10PM Wednesday, November 29: 6AM-12:30AM Thursday, November 30: 6AM-12:30AM Friday, December 1: 6AM-3PM
NOTE: BELLAGIO SHUTTLES RUN ONLY DURING AM AND PM PEAK HOURS (SUNDAY 10PM — 1:30AM, MONDAY — THURSDAY 6AM — 10AM & 4PM — 7:30PM, FRIDAY 6AM — 10AM)
Expert Tip: If you need to get from The Palazzo to The Venetian and want to avoid navigating the casino floors, restaurant row and the crowds around the entrance to The Sands Convention Center, head to the Canyon Ranch Spa from either hotel. From the Palazzo, the spa is located on the 4th floor and from the Venetian it is located on the 3rd floor. The spa connects both venues through a series of long, colorful and rarely traveled corridors making the trip quick and easy for those who don’t mind taking the road less traveled. Not to mention, this route can also offer a moment of peaceful sanity!
5. Avoid Sleeping In, Being Late, or Skipping Out Entirely
With so many learning and networking opportunities, it’s easy to get caught up in exciting—yet exhaustive—days full of breakout sessions, hands-on labs, training sessions, and of course, after-hours activities and parties. Only you know how to make the most of your time at re:Invent, but if we can offer some advice…be sure to get plenty of sleep and avoid sleeping in, getting to sessions late or worse…skipping out on morning sessions entirely. Especially when it comes to the keynote sessions on Wednesday and Thursday morning!
AWS CEO, Andy Jassy, will present the Wednesday morning keynote, while Amazon CTO, Werner Vogels, will present on Thursday morning. Both Keynotes will be full of exciting product announcements, enhancements, and feature additions as well as cool technical content and enterprise customer success stories. Don’t be the last to know because you inadvertently over slept and/or partied a little too hard the night before!
Customers don’t need to reserve a seat in either of the keynotes, however, there is a cap on the number of attendees who can watch the keynote in the keynote hall. Keynotes are offered on a first come, first served basis, so be sure to get there early.
Expert Tip: If you don’t want to wait in line to sit in the keynote hall, AWS will have many options for watching the keynote in overflow rooms. If you’re still groggy from the previous night’s events, the overflow rooms are an ideal place where you can watch the keynote with a bloody mary, mimosa, or coffee.
6. Avoid Being Anti-Social
AWS re:Invent is one of the best locations to network and connect with like-minded peers and cloud experts, discover new partner offerings and, of course, let loose at the quirky after-hours experiences, attendee parties, and partner-sponsored events.
Avoid being anti-social by taking advantage of the many opportunities to network with others and meet new people. AWS has some great activities planned for conference goers. To help you play hard while working harder, here is a list of all the fun activities that are planned for re:Invent 2017:
Harley Ride
When: Sunday, November 26, 12PM-6PM
Where: The Venetian
Robocar Rally Mixer
When: Sunday, November 26, 6PM-10PM
Where: Aria
Non-Profit Hackathon Mixer
When: Sunday, November 26, 7PM-9PM
Where: The Venetian
Midnight Madness
When: Sunday, November 26, 10:30PM-1AM
Where: The Venetian
AWS re:Invent 4K
When: Tuesday, November 28, 6AM-8AM
Where: The Mirage
Welcome Reception
When: Tuesday, November 28, 5PM-7PM
Where: The Venetian & The Linq Lot
Boomball
When: Tuesday, November 28, 5PM-7PM
Where: The Linq Lot
Cyclenation Spin Challenge
When: Wednesday, November 29, (three timeslots) 7AM, 8AM, 5PM
Where: The Mirage
Pub Crawl
When: Wednesday, November 29, 5:30PM-7:30PM
Where: MGM Grand & The Venetian
Tatonka Challenge
When: Wednesday, November 29, 5:30PM-7:30PM
Where: MGM Grand & The Venetian
2nd Watch After Party
When: Wednesday, November 29, 9PM-12AM
Where: Rockhouse at the Palazzo Click here to be added to the 2nd Watch After Party Waitlist (see “What to Avoid #3 above if you’re hesitant to be waitlisted)!
Fitness Bootcamp
When: Thursday, November 30, (three timeslots) 7AM, 8AM, 5PM
Where: The Mirage
re:Play Party
When: Thursday, November 30, 8PM-12AM
Where: The Park at the Linq Lot
Expert Tip: Don’t forget to bring plenty of business cards. With so many people to meet, opportunities to connect with peers and experts, and after-hours parties to attend, you’ll want to make sure to pack extra cards to avoid running out early in the week. When you receive a business card from someone else, try to immediately take a photo of it with your smartphone and save it to a photo album dedicated solely to networking. This will ensure that you have the details stored somewhere should you happen to misplace an important contact’s business card.
7. Avoid Forgetting to Pack That All-Too-Important Item
Whether you’re staying at The Venetian, Mirage, Encore, or other property, your hotel room will be your home away from home for nearly an entire week. Of course, every hotel will have in-room amenities and travel essentials, but inevitably, we all will forget that one important item that we won’t be able to live without, especially for an entire week. Our experts have pulled together a check list to help you pack for your trip and ensure you have all the comforts of home and office during your week in Vegas.
Your Favorite Toiletries:
Not everyone is in love with the in-room toiletries that hotels have to offer in each of their suites. If you have a favorite, be sure to bring it. Here is a quick list to ensure you don’t forget something:
Shampoo
Conditioner
Soap
Shave Cream
After Shave
Razor
Deodorant
Lotion
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Mouthwash
Floss
Hair Styling Products (if that’s your thing)
Contact Case & Solution
Spare Pair of Contacts
Cologne/Perfume/Body Spray
First Aid:
Whether your headache or hangover cure calls for Aspirin, Ibuprophen, or something stronger, it’s a good idea to pack your preferred treatment along with any other first aid remedies and prescription medications you might need. Band Aids, blister protectors, and anti-histamines are also recommended.
Chapstick & Lotion:
It is the desert, after all, and with dry air circulating throughout the venues, your skin (including your lips) is bound to dry out. We recommend bringing medicated Chapstick and fragrance-free lotion (fragrances in most lotions can often dry out your skin even more!) and keeping a spare with you at all times.
Breath Mints and/or Mint-flavored Gum:
No explanation necessary.
Business cards:
This is a repeat from one of our other tips but an important one to remember, so we don’t mind mentioning it again.
Chargers & Battery Packs:
Nothing is worse than being in between sessions with a 10% cell phone or laptop battery and realizing you left your chargers back in your room. We recommend bringing at least two phone chargers and two laptop chargers: One for your room and one for the backpack or briefcase you’ll be carrying throughout the conference. Additionally, while there will be several charging stations throughout re:Invent (and outlets on most every wall), it’s a good idea to bring a battery pack with several hours of charging time just in case you can’t find an open spot to plug in.
Water Bottle:
You will definitely want to stay hydrated throughout the week, and the tiny cups offered at the water stations just won’t quench your thirst quite the way you will need them to. It’s a good idea to pack a water bottle (we recommend one that can hold 17 oz) so that you avoid having to refill often and have plenty of thirst-quenching liquid to keep you hydrated throughout the day.
Comfortable shoes:
Your shoes will be your saving grace by the end of each day, so be sure to bring a pair or two that you feel comfortable walking several thousands of steps in.
Appropriate Attire:
While business casual attire is often recommended at re:Invent, there can be many interpretations of what is appropriate. Our advice is to pack clothing that you would feel confident wearing should you run into your boss or someone you wish to impress. Jeans are perfectly acceptable in either case, but make sure to use good judgement overall when selecting your attire for sessions, dinners and parties you plan to attend.
Cash:
In addition to needing cash for meals on the go, bar tabs or that faux diamond-encrusted figurine you’ve been eyeing in the gift shop, you’ll want to bring a little extra cash if you plan to try your luck at the casinos. There are ATMs on the casino floors, but they typically charge a service fee in the amount of $3-$5 in addition to your bank’s own service fees.
Notebook & Pen/Pencil:
It’s always a good idea to bring a good ole’ fashioned notebook with you to your sessions. Not only is it a fail-proof way to capture the handy tips and tricks you’ll be learning, it’s also the quietest way to track those notable items that you don’t want to forget. Think about it – if 100 people in your breakout session were all taking notes on a laptop, it would be pretty distracting. Be bold. Be respectful. Be the guy/gal that uses paper and a pen.
A Few Final Thoughts
Whether this is your first trip to AWS re:Invent or you’re a seasoned re:Invent pro, you’re sure to walk away with an increased knowledge of how cloud computing can better help your business, tips and tricks for navigating new AWS products and features, and a week’s worth of memories that will last a lifetime. We hope you make the most of your re:Invent 2017 experience and take advantage of the incredible education and networking opportunities that AWS has in store this year.
Last but certainly not least, we hope you take a moment during your busy week to visit 2nd Watch in booth #1104 of the Expo Hall where we will be showcasing our customers’ successes. You can explore 2nd Watch’s Managed Cloud Solutions, pick up a coveted 2nd Watch t-shirt and find out how you can win one of our daily contest giveaways—a totally custom, totally rad 2nd Watch skateboard!
Expert Tip: Make sure you get time with one of 2nd Watch’s Cloud Journey Masters while at re:Invent. Plan ahead and schedule a meeting with one of 2nd Watch’s AWS Professional Certified Architects, DevOps, or Engineers. Last but not least, 2nd Watch will be hosting its annual re:Invent after party on Wednesday, November 29. If you haven’t RSVP’d for THE AWS re:Invent Partner Party, click here to request to be added to our waitlist. We look forward to seeing you at AWS re:Invent 2017!
AWS re:Invent is less than twenty days away and 2nd Watch is proud to be a 2017 Platinum Sponsor for the sixth consecutive year. As an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network Premier Consulting Partner, we look forward to attending and demonstrating the strength of our cloud design, migration, and managed services offerings for enterprise organizations at AWS re:Invent 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
About AWS re:Invent
Designed for AWS customers, enthusiasts and even cloud computing newcomers, the nearly week-long conference is a great source of information and education for attendees of all skill levels. AWS re:Invent is THE place to connect, engage, and discuss current AWS products and services via breakout sessions ranging from introductory and advanced to expert as well as to hear the latest news and announcements from key AWS executives, partners, and customers. This year’s agenda offers a full additional day of content for even more learning opportunities, more than 1,000 breakout sessions, an expanded campus, hackathons, boot camps, hands-on labs, workshops, expanded Expo hours, and the always popular Amazonian events featuring broomball, Tatonka Challenge, fitness activities, and the attendee welcome party known as re:Play.
2nd Watch at re:Invent 2017
2nd Watch has been a Premier Consulting Partner in the AWS Partner Network (APN) since 2012 and was recently named a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Managed Service Providers, Worldwide (March 2017). We hold AWS Competencies in Financial Services, Migration, DevOps, Marketing, and Commerce, Life Sciences and Microsoft Workloads, and have recently completed the AWS Managed Service Provider (MSP) Partner Program Audit for the third year in a row. Over the past decade, 2nd Watch has migrated and managed AWS deployments for companies such as Crate & Barrel, Condé Nast, Lenovo, Motorola, and Yamaha.
The 2nd Watch breakout session—Continuous Compliance on AWS at Scale—will be led by cloud security experts Peter Meister and Lars Cromley. The session will focus on the need for continuous security and compliance in cloud migrations, and attendees will learn how a managed cloud provider can use automation and cloud expertise to successfully control these issues at scale in a constantly changing cloud environment. Registered re:Invent Full Conference Pass holders can add the session to their agendas here.
In addition to our breakout session, 2nd Watch will be showcasing our customers’ successes in the Expo Hall located in the Sands Convention Center (between The Venetian and The Palazzo hotels). We invite you to stop by booth #1104 where you can explore 2nd Watch’s Managed Cloud Solutions, pick up a coveted 2nd Watch t-shirt and find out how you can win one of our daily contest giveaways—a totally custom 2nd Watch skateboard!
Want to make sure you get time with one of 2nd Watch’s Cloud Journey Masters while at re:Invent? Plan ahead and schedule a meeting with one of 2nd Watch’s AWS Professional Certified Architects, DevOps, or Engineers. Last but not least, 2nd Watch will be hosting its annual re:Invent after party on Wednesday, November 29. If you haven’t RSVP’d for THE AWS re:Invent Partner Party, click here to request your invitation (Event has passed)
AWS re:Invent is sure to be a week full of great technical learning, networking, and social opportunities. We know you will have a packed schedule but look forward to seeing you there! Be on the lookout for my list of “What to Avoid at re:Invent 2017” in the coming days…it’s sure to help you plan for your trip and get the most out of your AWS re:Invent experience.
–Katie Laas-Ellis, Marketing Manager, 2nd Watch
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About 2nd Watch
2nd Watch is an AWS Premier tier Partner in the AWS Partner Network (APN) providing managed cloud to enterprises. The company’s subject matter experts, software-enabled services and cutting-edge solutions provide companies with tested, proven, and trusted solutions, allowing them to fully leverage the power of the cloud. 2nd Watch solutions are high performing, robust, increase operational excellence, decrease time to market, accelerate growth and lower risk. Its patent-pending, proprietary tools automate everyday workload management processes for big data analytics, digital marketing, line-of-business and cloud native workloads. 2nd Watch is a new breed of business which helps enterprises design, deploy and manage cloud solutions and monitors business critical workloads 24×7. 2nd Watch has more than 400 enterprise workloads under its management and more than 200,000 instances in its managed public cloud. The venture-backed company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. To learn more about 2nd Watch, visit www.2ndwatch.com or call 888-317-7920.
The annual Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent conference is just around the corner (the show kicks off November 27 in Las Vegas). Rest assured, there will be lots of AWS-related products, partners, and customer news. Not to mention, more than a few parties. Here’s what to expect at AWS re:Invent 2017—and a few more topics we hope to hear about.
1.) Focus on IOT, Machine Learning, and Big Data
IOT, Machine Learning, and Big Data are top of mind with much of the industry—insert your own Mugatu “so hot right now” meme here – and we expect all three to be front and center at this year’s re:Invent conference. These Amazon Web Services are ripe for adoption, as most IT shops lack the capabilities to deploy these types of services on their own. We expect to see advancements in AWS IOT usability and features. We’ve already seen some early enhancements to AWS Greengrass, most notably support for additional programming languages, and would expect additional progress to be displayed at re:Invent. Other products that we expect to see advancement made are with AWS Athena and AWS Glue.
In the Machine Learning space, we were certainly excited about the recent partnership between Amazon Web Services and Microsoft around Gluon, and expect a number of follow-up announcements geared toward making it easier to adopt ML into one’s applications. As for Big Data, we imagine Amazon Web Service to continue sniping at open source tools that can be used to develop compelling services. We also would be eager to see more use of AWS Lambda for in-flight ETL work, and perhaps a long-running Lambda option for batch jobs.
2.) Enterprise Security
To say that data security has been a hot topic these past several months, would be a gross understatement. From ransomware to the Experian breach to the unsecured storage of private keys, data security has certainly been in the news. In our September Enterprise Security Survey, 73% of respondents who are IT professionals don’t fully understand the public cloud shared responsibility model.
Last month, we announced our collaboration with Palo Alto Networks to help enterprises realize the business and technical benefits of securely moving to the public cloud. The 2nd Watch Enterprise Cloud Security Service blends 2nd Watch’s Amazon Web Services expertise and architectural guidance with Palo Alto Networks’ industry-leading VM series of security products. To learn more about security and compliance, join our re:Invent breakout session—Continuous Compliance on AWS at Scale— by registering for ID number SID313 from the AWS re:Invent Session Catalogue. The combination delivers a proven enterprise cloud security offering that is designed to protect customer organizations from cyberattacks, in hybrid or cloud architectures. 2nd Watch is recognized as the first public cloud-native managed security provider to join the Palo Alto Networks, NextWave Channel Partner Program. We are truly excited about this new service and collaboration, and hope you will visit our booth (#1104) or Palo Alto Networks (#2409) to learn more.
As for Amazon Web Services, we fully expect to see a raft of announcements. Consistent with our expectations around ML and Big Data, we expect to hear about enhanced ML-based anomaly detection, logging and log analytics, and the like. We also expect to see advancements to AWS Shield and AWS Organizations, which were both announced at last year’s show. Similarly, we wouldn’t be surprised by announced functionality to their web app firewall, AWS WAF. A few things we know customers would like are easier, less labor-intensive management and even greater integration into SecDevOps workflows. Additionally, customers are looking for better integration with third-party and in-house security technologies – especially application scanning and SIEM solutions – for a more cohesive security monitoring, analysis, and compliance workflow.
The dynamic nature of the cloud creates specific challenges for security. Better security and visibility for ephemeral resources such as containers, and especially for AWS Lambda, are a particular challenge, and we would be extremely surprised not to see some announcements in this area.
Lastly, General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) will be kicking in soon, and it is critical that companies get on top of this. We expect Amazon Web Service to make several announcements about improved, secure storage and access, especially with respect to data sovereignty. More broadly, we expect that Amazon Web Service will announce improved tools and services around compliance and governance, particularly with respect to mapping deployed or planned infrastructure against the control matrices of various regulatory schemes.
3.) Parties!
We don’t need to tell you that AWS’ re:Play Party is always an amazing, veritable visual, and auditory playground. Last year, we played classic Street Fighter II while listening to Martin Garrix bring the house down (Coin might have gotten ROFLSTOMPED playing Ken, but it was worth it!). Amazon Web Services always pulls out all the stops, and we expect this year to be the best yet.
2nd Watch will be hosting its annual party for customers at the Rockhouse at the Palazzo. There will be great food, an open bar, an awesome DJ, and of course, a mechanical bull. If you’re not yet on the guest list, request your invitation TODAY! We’d love to connect with you, and it’s a party you will not want to miss.
Bonus: A wish list of things 2nd Watch would like to see released at AWS re:Invent 2017
Blockchain – Considering the growing popularity of blockchain technologies, we wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon Web Service launched a Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) offering, or at least signaled their intent to do so, especially since Azure already has a BaaS offering.
Multi-region Database Option – This is something that would be wildly popular but is incredibly hard to accomplish. Having an active-active database strategy across regions is critical for production workloads that operate nationwide and require high uptime. Azure already offers it with their Cosmos DB (think of it as a synchronized, multi-region DynamoDB), and we doubt Amazon Web Service will let that challenge stand much longer. It is highly likely that Amazon Web Service has this pattern operating internally, and customer demand is how Amazon Web Service services are born.
Nifi – The industry interest in Nifi data-flow orchestration, often analogized to the way parcel services move and track packages, has been accelerating for many reasons, including its applicability to IoT and for its powerful capabilities around provenance. We would love to see AWS DataPipeline re-released as Nifi, but with all the usual Amazon Web Services provider integrations built in.
If even half our expectations for this year’s re:Invent are met, you can easily see why the 2nd Watch team is truly excited about what Amazon Web Services has in store for everyone. We are just as excited about what we have to offer to our customers, and so we hope to see you there!
Schedule a meeting with one of our AWS Professional Certified Architects, DevOps or Engineers and don’t forget to come visit us in booth #1104 in the Expo Hall! See you at re:Invent 2017!
— Coin Graham, Senior Cloud Consultant and John Lawler, Senior Product Manager, 2nd Watch
2nd Watch is always buzzing before AWS re:Invent as we get ready for a great conference full of breakout sessions, boot camps, certifications, keynotes and – you can count on it – some big AWS announcements. As a Platinum sponsor we are committed to the success of the conference and enjoy having the opportunity to connect with clients and prospective clients. We are also excited to hear what new services and features AWS will be launching to make the public cloud better, faster and easier to adopt. Here are the three areas where we expect AWS to make some announcements:
1. Services and Features to Drive Further Enterprise Adoption
Cloud adoption has moved beyond the startups towards Enterprise adoption. The majority of Fortune 500 companies have adopted the cloud in some form or another with more and more moving to a cloud-first approach. There is still a very large portion of enterprise workloads that live in datacenters and colocation facilities. AWS will continue to add services to enable customers to run these workloads in the cloud. In the past we have seen AWS CloudTrail, AWS Config, and other services that enable governance and security. We expect this to continue and will be watching out for services that provide the governance and security that Enterprises need.
2. Software Development Life Cycle Services
AWS has released a number of tools that make it easier for developers and operations people to manage the software development and deployment process. CodeCommit, CodePipeline, and CodeDeploy can be included in CloudFormation templates to enable Infrastructure as Code to include the tools necessary to enable development teams. This is a trend we expect to continue with AWS doing more in this space. The API-native services and features of AWS have always made it popular with folks who write code. We expect this trend to continue and for AWS to further enable developers with new services and tools.
3. Beyond AWS
We were excited to see AWS reach beyond themselves to offer Amazon Linux as a container image. Previously the tools and services that ran outside of the cloud enabled customers to bring workloads to the cloud. Those include AWS Application Discovery Service, Amazon Storage Gateway, AWS Snowball, and AWS Database Migration Service. These services and tools all exist to enable customers to come to the cloud. Offering their operating system as a Linux Container makes it possible for customers to run container services across clouds, both public and private. We expect this trend to continue and for AWS to release more services that allow customers to leverage their AWS investment while still enabling previous investments in on-premise infrastructure or other clouds.
4. AWS re:Play Party
The end-of-show party is always a good time, and we encourage you not to miss it. After a week of talking to peers and digesting a lot of technology, it is fun to let loose, play some video games, and listen to some loud electronic music. We will not try to make a prediction on the headliner, but it will probably be a big-name in the EDM scene. We’d love to see Aoki throw a cake at some re:Invent party goers, but we will have to wait until December 1st to find out who is performing along with everyone else.
The fifth annual AWS re:Invent is right around the corner, taking place November 28-December 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Designed for AWS customers, enthusiasts and even cloud computing newcomers, the nearly week-long conference is a great source of information and education for attendees of all skill levels. AWS re:Invent is THE place to connect, engage and discuss current AWS products and services via breakout sessions ranging from introductory and advanced to expert as well as to hear the la news and announcements from key AWS executives, partners and customers. This year’s agenda offers a full additional day of content, boot camps, hands-on labs, workshops and the re:Source Mini Con—a full-day technical deep dive into topics such as Big Data, Containers, IoT, Machine Learning, Security Services, and Serverless Computing.
2nd Watch is proud to be a 2016 Platinum Sponsor and attend AWS re:Invent for the fifth consecutive year. As an AWS Premier Partner with four re:Invent conferences under our belts, we have a unique insight into what attendees can expect at re:Invent 2016. With that, our seasoned re:Invent alumni have compiled a list of the Top Five Things to Avoid at re:Invent 2016.
1. Avoid the long lines at Registration (and at the Swag Counter!)
In previous years, the re:Invent Registration Desk was open at the Venetian on Monday & Tuesday only. This year, registration is open starting Sunday evening from 6pm-8pm, giving attendees a few extra hours to check in and secure their conference badges. In addition to the extra two hours on Sunday evening, AWS is opening registration to attendees at two new locations—The Mirage and Encore—and will remain open all week. Of course, you can’t attend any part of re:Invent until you have your conference badge so be sure you check into Registration as early as possible. This will also ensure that you get the size shirt you want from the Swag Counter!
Expert Tip: This year, AWS has added an additional level of security and will be printing each attendee’s photograph onto their badge. Don’t be “that guy or gal” that holds up the registration line because you have to have your photo taken on site. Take a few minutes to upload your photo prior to re:Invent here. BONUS: By uploading your own photo, you make sure to put your best face forward for the week.
2. Avoid Arriving Without a Plan:
The worst thing you can do at re:Invent is show up without a plan for how you will spend your week in Vegas—that includes the breakout sessions you want to attend. With two new venues and a total of over 400 sessions (twice as many as 2015), more hands-on labs, boot camps and one-on-one engagement opportunities, AWS re:Invent 2016 offers more breadth and depth and more chances to learn from the experts than ever before.
If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out the AWS Session Planner and start selecting the sessions that matter most to you. For the first time, AWS is offering reserved seating for breakout sessions, which means you have the chance to build a fully-customized conference calendar. Take advantage of this benefit by adding sessions to your re:Invent calendar now. By doing so, you will automatically have a seat reserved in your name and you can rest easy knowing you get to attend the sessions that are most important to you.
If you need some scheduling inspiration, 2nd Watch is presenting “Lift and Evolve: Saving Money in the Cloud is Easy, Making Money Takes Help” on Tuesday, 11/29. Part of the Enterprise & Migration track, this one-hour breakout session story will dive deep into the technology that allows The Coca-Cola Company to manage hundreds of AWS Accounts, hundreds of workloads, thousands of instances, and hundreds of business partners around the globe. Find it in the session catalogue by searching for “ENT206,” then be sure to add it to your AWS re:Invent calendar to reserve your seat.
Expert Tip: Be sure to download the AWS re:Invent Mobile App. The mobile app will be available approximately two weeks prior to re:Invent for iOS and Android only. For Windows phone users, there will be a mobile web version available.
The mobile app will hold your re:Invent schedule, maps from venue to venue, all other activities and reminders and will definitely help with your overall conference experience.
Lastly, when it comes to session planning, be sure to keep in mind that breakout sessions are being offered at all three venues—The Venetian, The Mirage, and Encore. Allowing enough time to get from session to session will be key. This year, AWS has added 30 minute breaks between sessions, but given there will be nearly 30,000 people expected at re:Invent this year, escalators, elevators and hallways are most certainly going to be difficult to navigate. As long as you don’t stop at the casino floor to your luck, you should still make it to the next session in ample time. Here are the estimated walking times between venues to help you plan accordingly:
Venetian to Mirage: 20-minute walk
Venetian to Encore: 15-minute walk
Encore to Mirage: 20-minute walk
For additional information about the AWS re:Invent agenda or to customize your attendee experience, visit https://reinvent.awsevents.com.
3. Avoid Sleeping In, Being Late or Skipping Out Entirely
With so many learning and networking opportunities, it’s easy to get caught up in exciting—yet exhaustive—days full of breakout sessions, hands-on labs, training sessions and of course, after-hours activities and parties. Only you know how to make the most of your time at re:Invent, but if we can offer some advice…be sure to get plenty of sleep and avoid sleeping in, getting to sessions late or worse…skipping out on morning sessions entirely. Especially when it comes to the keynote sessions on Wednesday and Thursday morning!
AWS CEO, Andy Jassy, will present the Wednesday morning keynote, while Amazon CTO, Werner Vogels, will present on Thursday morning. Both Keynotes will be full of exciting product announcements, enhancements and feature additions as well as cool technical content and enterprise customer success stories. Don’t be the last to know because you inadvertently over slept and/or partied a little too hard the night before!
Customers don’t need to reserve a seat in either of the keynotes, however, there is a cap on the number of attendees who can watch the keynote in the keynote hall. Keynotes are offered on a first come, first served basis, so be sure to get there early.
Expert Tip: If you don’t want to wait in line to sit in the keynote hall, AWS will have many options for watching the keynote in overflow rooms. If you’re still groggy from the previous night’s events, the overflow rooms are an ideal place where you can watch the keynote with a bloody mary, mimosa or coffee.
4. Avoid Being Anti-Social
AWS re:Invent is one of the best locations to network and connect with like-minded peers and cloud experts, discover new partner offerings and, of course, let loose at the quirky after-hours experiences, attendee parties, and partner-sponsored events.
Avoid being anti-social by taking advantage of the many opportunities to network with others and meet new people. AWS has some great activities planned for conference goers including the famed Totonka wing eating con, Welcome Reception, Partner Pub Crawl, Harley Ride, re:Play Party and new this year, the re:Invent 5k Run.
Expert Tip: Don’t forget to bring plenty of business cards. With so many people to meet, opportunities to connect with peers and experts, and after-hours parties to attend, you’ll want to make sure to pack extra cards to avoid running out early in the week. When you receive a business card from someone else, try to immediately take a photo of it with your smartphone and save it to a photo album dedicated solely to networking. This will ensure that you have the details stored somewhere should you happen to misplace an important contact’s business card.
5. Avoid Forgetting to Pack That All-Too-Important Item
Whether you’re staying at The Venetian, Mirage, Encore or other property, your hotel room will be your home away from home for nearly an entire week. Of course, every hotel will have in-room amenities and travel essentials, but inevitably, we all will forget that one important item that we won’t be able to live without, especially for an entire week. Our experts have pulled together a check list to help you pack for your trip and ensure you have all the comforts of home and office during your week in Vegas.
Your Favorite Toiletries:
Not everyone is in love with the in-room toiletries that hotels have to offer in each of their suites. If you have a favorite, be sure to bring it. Here is a quick list to ensure you don’t forget something:
Shampoo
Conditioner
Soap
Shave Cream
After Shave
Razor
Deodorant
Lotion
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Mouthwash
Floss
Hair Styling Products (if that’s your thing)
Contact Case & Solution
Spare Pair of Contacts
Cologne/Perfume/Body Spray
First Aid:
Whether your headache or hangover cure calls for Aspirin, Ibuprophen or something stronger, it’s a good idea to pack your preferred treatment along with any other first aid remedies and prescription medications you might need. Band Aids, blister protectors and anti-histamines are also recommended.
Chapstick & Lotion:
It is the desert, after all, and with dry air circulating throughout the venues, your skin (including your lips) is bound to dry out. We recommend bringing medicated chapstick and fragrance-free lotion (fragrances in most lotions can often dry out your skin even more!) and keeping a spare with you at all times.
Breath Mints and/or Mint-flavored Gum:
No explanation necessary.
Business cards:
This is a repeat from one of our other tips but an important one to remember, so we don’t mind mentioning it again.
Chargers & Battery Packs:
Nothing is worse than being in between sessions with a 10% cell phone or laptop battery and realizing you left your chargers back in your room. We recommend bringing at least two phone chargers and two laptop chargers: One for your room and one for the backpack or briefcase you’ll be carrying throughout the conference. Additionally, while there will be several charging stations throughout re:Invent (and outlets on most every wall), it’s a good idea to bring a battery pack with several hours of charging time just in case you can’t find an open spot to plug in.
Water Bottle:
You will definitely want to stay hydrated throughout the week, and the tiny cups offered at the water stations just won’t quench your thirst quite the way you will need them to. It’s a good idea to pack a water bottle (we recommend one that can hold 17 oz) so that you avoid having to refill often and have plenty of thirst-quenching liquid to keep you hydrated throughout the day.
Comfortable shoes:
Your shoes will be your saving grace by the end of each day, so be sure to bring a pair or two that you feel comfortable walking several thousands of steps in.
Appropriate Attire:
While business casual attire is often recommended at re:Invent, there can be many interpretations of what is appropriate. Our advice is to pack clothing that you would feel confident wearing should you run into your boss or someone you wish to impress. Jeans are perfectly acceptable in either case, but make sure to use good judgement overall when selecting your attire for sessions, dinners and parties you plan to attend.
Cash:
In addition to needing cash for meals on the go, bar tabs or that faux diamond-encrusted figurine you’ve been eyeing in the gift shop, you’ll want to bring a little extra cash if you plan to your luck at any of the casinos. There are ATMs on the casino floors, but they typically charge a service fee in the amount of $3-$5 in addition to your bank’s own service fees.
Notebook & Pen/Pencil:
It’s always a good idea to bring a good ole’ fashioned notebook with you to your sessions. Not only is it a fail-proof way to capture the handy tips and tricks you’ll be learning, it’s also the quie. Think about it – if 100 people in your breakout session were all taking notes on a laptop, it would be pretty distracting. Be bold. Be respectful. Be the guy/gal that uses paper and a pen.
A Few Final Thoughts
Whether this is your first trip to AWS re:Invent or you’re a seasoned re:Invent pro, you’re sure to walk away with an increased knowledge of how cloud computing can better help your business, tips and tricks for navigating new AWS products and features, and a week’s worth of memories that will last a lifetime. We hope you make the most of your re:Invent 2016 experience and take advantage of the incredible education and networking opportunities that AWS has in store this year.
Last but certainly not least, we hope you take a moment during your busy week to visit the 2nd Watch Cloud Solutions Center located at booth #825 in the Expo Hall where you can explore 2nd Watch’s Managed Cloud Services, pick up a cool 2nd Watch t-shirt and find out how you can win one of two Segway Mini Pros. We’re excited to attend our fifth AWS re:Invent and look forward to seeing you there!
