AWS Channel reseller program session
As an authorized AWS Channel Reseller, we were privileged to attend a private session (most info under NDA), before the official AWS Partner Summit Keynote started.
This session was presented by Jarrod Buckley & Ryan Cauthron, both AWS veterans and responsible for the AWS Channel Reseller Program.
Some Technology partners had a special offer for Channel Resellers attending this session. One of them was CloudCheckr, an AWS Advanced Technology Partner who we work with a lot. We were a bit surprised (but delighted) to see a quote of us on their leaflets. Nice! Thanks guys for the free promo ☺ ☺
A lot of changes and new things are about to come for resellers, but as this was a private session; we cannot disclose any more info about it here. (Sorry for that)
AWS Partner Summit Keynote (some highlights)
To be honest, we were really surprised to see more than 4000 AWS partners show up for these partner presentations.
It proves that the AWS Partner Eco system definitely works. AWS now serves more than one million customers worldwide and is still expanding at a rapid pace. About 50% of AWS partners now reside outside North America, so worldwide domination is not far away anymore ☺.
AWS vice president channels and alliances, Terry Wise made it very clear that helping AWS Partners grow is top priority for AWS. This shows in the big investments AWS has put in partner training & certification. Another goal AWS sets for itself is to give more visibility to partners, so customers can find the right partner for supporting their business.
Wise highlighted the customer-centric approach of AWS several times and the investments AWS continues to put in creating new products & solutions with the customer first in mind.
Some important things we remembered:
- New partner training available: Security Fundamentals on AWS & Security Operations on AWS
- 3 new AWS Partner Network Competencies have been added to the AWS Partner Competency program: DevOps, Cloud Migration and Internet of Things
- New AWS Direct Connect Bundles
- BYOL Windows License: Customers can now bring their own licenses on EC2 dedicated hosts
- AWS Marketplace has expanded significantly serving more than 2300 ready-to-use products available across 35 different categories from over 800 ISV’s.
- 46 partners have been rewarded with the Premier Consulting Partner status for 2016.
- Updated APN Benefits and Requirements: Read more about it here
You can check out the AWS Partner Blog for frequent updates on the APN Program.
Breakout sessions
18 (yes, 18!) breakout sessions for partners were made available at AWS re:Invent 2015.
We had the opportunity to attend some of them, but it seems obvious that it’s impossible to attend them all, let alone write reviews about all these sessions.
AWS Partner Solutions Explorer
This was actually a very nice thing from AWS to have at re:Invent.
As a customer, you can use the Partner Solutions Explorer to define your business needs and it will crawl through the AWS Partner database to present you with some AWS partners that may be the best fit for your company.
Trend Micro European Party!
We were invited to a European networking event, sponsored by Trend Micro, hosted at Morels French Steakhouse @ The Palazzo.
Many familiar faces there, but it was also a great opportunity to talk with some European AWS partners and customers.
Free drinks, hors d’oeuvres and great surroundings…. A great way to end the second (exhausting) day at re:Invent.
