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re:Invent recap: Amazon showcases cloud computing innovation

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Amazon held its 10th re:Invent conference this week. The annual event, held this year in Las Vegas as well as online, reveals new technologies designed to support its Amazon Web Services (AWS) arm, one of the leading platforms for cloud computing.

The tech giant’s first AWS re:Invent in 2012 was a humble affair with only 6,000 attendees, dominated by startups and emerging technology partners. Fast-forward to 2021: It’s now a well-attended conference for the industry’s top IT execs and technical decision-makers.

The in-person event featured keynote speakers, announcements about its latest tech innovations, as well as training and certification opportunities.

Amazon revealed the latest it has to offer, but a few announcements took center stage. The following is a collective overview of VentureBeat’s coverage on the top news coming out of AWS re:Invent 2021.

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Simplified machine learning, AI, robotics, and data lakes

AWS’s CEO Adam Selipsky revealed news of accelerated chips, effortless machine learning models, fortified artificial intelligence, robotics technology, data lakes, and more.

“[W]e’re making it even easier to prepare and gather data for machine learning to train models faster and expand machine learning to an even broader audience,” Selipsky said. “It’s really going to enable a whole new group of users to leverage their data and to use machine learning to create new business insights.”

The announcements that followed Selipsky’s keynote would only prove to bolster that statement. AWS re:Invent 2021 largely focused on tools that are both bolstered to provide strong data and analytics infrastructures, and enhance efficiency for those using the many tools across the swath of Amazon’s cloud computing platform.

Securing the cloud computing industry’s dominant platform

As the cloud computing industry is rapidly evolving, so is the demand for faster, more efficient developer-friendly tools. Cybersecurity threats and ransomware are rampant and growing. Against this backdrop, AWS announced automation for the management of vulnerabilities on its platform, to address vital security requirements in the cloud.

The sharp pivot to increased digitization for companies across industries, sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, has increased the use of cloud-native tech and platforms. In an interview, VentureBeat heard the concerns and perspectives from 10 startup companies regarding AWS security. A key takeaway: cloud security’s most notable advantages include lower cost and lower demand on resources than on-premises security.

Pushing the boundaries of simulations, quantum tech, and beyond

Amid the rise in popularity of digital twin simulations, the company also announced IoT TwinMaker and IoT FleetWise for AWS. The tools are designed with user accessibility in mind: making it easier and more cost-effective to innovate. Its IoT TwinMaker allows developers to easily create digital twins of real-time systems such as factories, industrial equipment, product lines etc. The IoT FleetWise tool is specifically tailored for automakers to efficiently collect, transform, and transfer vehicle data in the cloud at a faster rate.

In addition, Amazon also announced its dabbling in the quantum computing arena with the announcement of AWS’s cloud quantum offering known as Braket.

Braket allows users to write quantum algorithms and lease time on quantum processors without a commitment. At re:Invent 2021, AWS shared that its Braket service can now run quantum algorithms as hybrid jobs. For now, there’s no integration with many other tools, but as quantum computing grows in accessibility and popularity, this integration is likely to be announced at a future conference.

With such rapid growth both in size of its AWS re:Invent conference and in the tech featured at it on the past 10 years, looking ahead at the innovation the next 10 years will produce, AWS re:Invent in the year 2032 will undoubtedly pave the way for further transformation in the tech industry — transformation that minds have yet to even consider possible.

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