Tag Archives: amazon web services

A Necessity to Optimise & Leverage The Cloud – Lessons From Carsome and 500 Startups

September 15, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Startups have become the norm nowadays. They’ve become a hallmark for not just the tech industry but also a thriving economy. However, when it comes down to it, the startup arena can also become one of the most brutal, unforgiving arenas any founder or individual can find themselves. The world has its eyes on Southeast Asia – Malaysia included – as its startup ecosystem teeters on the verge of another boom. The start-up arena has become one of the largest spaces for investment in the region, attracting some USD$1.48 billion in just Q1 of 2021 alone according to CB Insights. A significant chunk of 40.6% of this investment is driven by early-stage deals.

man in black crew neck t shirt sitting beside woman in gray crew neck t shirt — Photo by Canva Studio on Pexels.com

So, the big question is, what do we do with this data? We’ve heard tonnes of startup stories – so, we’re offering a slightly different perspective. Let’s talk about the tech. Yes, not every startup is an app or tech-related. However, with the rapidly changing needs and challenges now, it has become even more important for startups to be able to adapt and react accordingly – in a word – AGILE. Again, it’s a term we’ve heard or read countless times. That said, it’s become even more important now that they do – it could be the difference between survival and disappearing into the ether.

Fail Efficiently, Innovate Quickly

Like a wise woman once sang – “Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start…”. The world as we know it has changed over the past few decades. In fact, it’s changed in the past few years! The costs of starting a startup have reduced from USD$5 million in 1999 to just over USD$50,000 in 2010 and continue to decline.

The biggest difference? The Cloud. Cloud computing has significantly reduced the capital needed to start-up enterprises and it will continue to do so. Companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS) are enabling agility and cost-efficiency. They are enabling startups to take off with no upfront costs but most importantly they encourage startups to experiment and fail fast – allowing them to move forward with innovating their next approach. Each failure allows startups to learn, optimise and eventually succeed.

“The great thing about startups is the ability to start small and learn as you go. So long as you get the foundations right – such as ensuring you are secure by design from the outset – it won’t matter so much if you make the odd misstep along the way, because the consequences will be small.”
Digbijoy Shukla, Business Development Lead, Startup Business Development ASEAN, AWS

Digbijoy Shukla Business Development Lead Startup Business Development ASEAN AWS

These flexibilities are key in startups as it goes without saying – the road to their success is how fast they are able to present and prove their concept. The ability to provision and decommission servers and technological resources quickly and efficiently will help these start-ups further optimise and conserve resources. With this inherent efficiency built in it falls to start-ups and their management to take advantage of the tools at their fingertips to enhance their offering, evolve their approach and embrace the insights they are privy to.

The Right Cloud Computing Partners can determine the Success of Startups

The ability to fail fast and experiment comes secondary to the tools any startup has at its disposal. Cloud computing continues to be a necessity simply because of its robust offerings. Going digital is no more about changing typewriters to desktops, it’s about a set of tools that allow you to create, adapt and react to ensure that the company is meeting its clients’ and customers’ needs.

Khailee Ng Managing Partner 500 Startups

“It’s critical to align yourself with the right partners and support as early as possible. Folks like 500 Startups and AWS aren’t here to be new and trendy, we’ve been part of the core ecosystem infrastructure since the early days.”
Khailee Ng, Managing Partner, 500 Startups

Choosing the right cloud, then, is an essential part of a start-up’s success. It’s like choosing the right business partner, you need someone who believes in your vision and complements your skills with the correct tools. With the number of Cloud providers continually increasing, start-ups are forced to make a choice based on the needs and skill level of their organisation.

In our session with AWS, Khailee Ng, Managing Partner at 500 Startups, stressed that getting the right partner can be akin to getting that first investment. Programs like AWS Activate enable startups to continue experimenting and functioning while upskilling and adapting. It creates a simultaneous process in which founders, staff and enablers are continually interacting and improving. In fact, programmes like AWS Activate essentially provide startups with an infusion of not just credits for experimentation and setting up, it provides a platform for startups to learn and implement the relevant knowledge for their success. AWS also provides technical support which allows non-technical founders to also benefit.

Scale, Pivot and React with Actionable Insights from the Cloud

Being on the Cloud is not always about cost or efficiency. It’s about the amount of data that will be available from the experimentation and even day to day usage of services and products. The data and insights that it gives will invariably determine the direction in which the startup can grow. In fact, if utilised properly, this data can even provide insights into new niches and services that can grow the startup’s user base and open new markets.

In the initial six months, we were a car listings site. We pivoted the business in 2016, based on the data. We then extended our sales online, with customer benefits such as five days money back guarantee. Our (sales) pickup rate became much stronger, as we saw the same level of sales (as what we experienced) before the lockdowns. It’s really all about navigating successfully through this crisis.”
Eric Cheng, Co-Founder and CEO of Carsome, an integrated car e-commerce platform

AWS Article Carsome Stock Photos 002 — Source: Adobe Stock

Take, for instance, Malaysian born startup – Carsome which started as a platform for searching for second-hand cars. The company ended up pivoting to complement its pre-existing service. They expanded to include the sales and purchase of these vehicles based on insights derived from the data generated by their users. They were able to gain insights that highlighted a niche that they could occupy; more importantly, it complemented their existing product. With these insights, they were quickly able to adapt, react and develop an offering that enhanced their product and led to exponential growth. They continue to use this data to enhance their service and ensure user happiness.

Of course, the Cloud doesn’t just provide for actionable insights and agility. It’s also about offloading mundane tasks and leveraging offerings like AWS Sagemaker. Implementing AI and Machine Learning in taking over tasks that can and should be automated will allow startups to focus their workforce on more pertinent tasks that will allow them to differentiate themselves further. Focusing on what is important will allow startups to eventually be able to scale. Of course, this doesn’t mean that vital tasks are offloaded, but it does mean that startups are able to maximise efficiency and optimise their workforce allowing them to flourish.

The Cloud Is Not the Future, It is Now

We keep hearing that the Cloud is the future. In truth, startups and companies that fail to adopt and adapt are bound to be held back by their own inefficiencies and stigmas. It is crucial that we realise that the Cloud is now – it’s not the future; at least, not anymore. Leveraging the Cloud and its many tools is a pivotal skill that startups need to develop. In fact, it would not be unfounded to say that it is a skill that all organisations should already be developing.

We are at a stage in the world where technology has already proliferated every aspect of our lives; from our entertainment to our work and even in our day-to-day lives. Why then are we hesitant to adopt it at scale to increase our own efficiencies and productivity? Why are we hesitant to put technology – already available – to use to increase profitability?

Startups cannot wait to adopt Cloud computing anymore. In fact, they are setting themselves up for failure without the proper Cloud and the willingness to learn how to use it. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to put technology to work for you in this day.

Business, Contributed, Editorial

Keeping Up with the Pace of Innovation with the Cloud

July 29, 2021 Richard Taylor Leave a comment

When I was a young boy growing up in Jersey in the British Channel Islands, I’d turn on the grainy TV to warm up so I could watch sports with my father and brother. FORMULA 1 racing was the most exciting sport for us, even though the cars often sped by faster than the camera operator and the technology could keep up.

Now, racing is covered in a far richer and more engaging way, especially since F1 launched F1 Insights powered by AWS in 2018, bringing data analytics as a live feed to my screens. Watching on my phone in Singapore, I love the real-time Car Performance Scores, which include thousands of data points streamed every second from every car on the track, giving me a much better understanding of where my favorite car ranks in the field – and what’s driving its performance.

It’s exactly this type of real-time information that businesses need to understand their performance, so they can make decisions rapidly and keep up with market changes. During the pandemic, we have learned that speed matters, whether you’re a digital native or a more traditional organization. As all businesses faced social distancing measures, those who survived the pandemic adopted new ways to do business, and they adapted fast using the cloud.

Some moved faster than others. Some enterprises with legacy systems seem resigned to moving slowly. Even today, I often hear comments like, “It’s just the nature of our size and heritage.”

We must debunk that myth. Speed is not preordained by heritage. Speed is a choice that any organization can make if it is prepared to harness the cloud. As a recent McKinsey article put it: “For CEOs, cloud adoption is not just an engine for revenue growth and efficiency. The cloud’s speed, scale, innovation, and productivity benefits are essential to the pursuit of broader digital business opportunities, now and well into the future.”

Culture Change

Many organizations can look for ways to change their culture and embrace speed, creating an environment that values urgency. In a culture designed for speed, people are actively encouraged to experiment and are rewarded for it. Although, flipping a switch won’t suddenly deliver speed – companies have to build muscle while they learn how to innovate at pace, all the time.

Amazon has been around for nearly 27 years, and to this day we maintain what we call a “Day 1” culture – approaching everything we do with the entrepreneurial spirit of being on the first day of your organization. We do this by giving our teams autonomy, on the understanding that they operate within the guardrails of our culture.

group of people sitting indoors — Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

We believe the more we can equip people to make high judgment decisions at all levels, the better off we, and our customers, are. We encourage employees to make high-velocity, high-quality decisions by setting the vision and context for teams. Since Amazon was founded in 1994, we’ve consistently operated based on three big ideas that every employee knows. The first is to obsess over customers. This is cemented in our mission statement to be “earth’s most customer-centric company.” The second is that if we focus on the customer it will force us to innovate – to look at new ways of solving problems on behalf of our customers. The third is to be stubborn in sustaining our long-term vision while being flexible in how we get there.

As Jeff Bezos explains, “In a traditional corporate hierarchy, a junior executive comes up with a new idea that they want to try. They have to convince their boss, their boss’s boss, their boss’s boss’s boss and so on – any ‘no’ in that chain can kill the whole idea.” Systems and processes that identify, validate, and approve new ideas from within the business are invaluable in democratizing company-wide idea exploration and driving experimentation in business as usual. For example, at Amazon, we make it easy for those closest to our customers to raise ideas for speedy review. Imagine a time-wasting process or one that results in a poor customer experience. People complain about it regularly, but they know that it can be so hard to implement change, that it’s not worth the effort. The problem is put in the “too hard” basket and no one says anything. Now, imagine actually rewarding teams for suggesting a fix. Imagine if the process was fast and painless and resulted in change. How many great ideas would happen every week?

Thinking Big and Acting Small

Thinking big is the hallmark of innovation. But, as we look to move quickly and embrace greater experimentation, we should also look to de-risk the process. This means recognizing that the most powerful innovations often come through simplification. One small, seemingly insignificant cost or time-saving can drive enormous benefits for both companies and their customers when applied at scale. Thinking big also means starting big ideas with very small, reversible experiments. At Amazon, we look for “two-way doors.” If an experiment fails (as they often do), we can back out of the decision rather than being committed to moving ahead through a “one-way door,” which can be expensive and difficult to undo. This way, you learn quickly with very low stakes.

StockSnap DNA7ILF8DA — Photo by Burst on StockSnap

A great example of innovative thinking in the face of legacy technology is FashionValet. As the modest fashion brand grew, its multi-environment hybrid technology infrastructure was unable to keep up with demand during product launches. In 2019, FashionValet went all-in on AWS to optimize processes and meet growing demand. With Auto Scaling Groups and RDS Aurora features, FashionValet can now run 10x more servers during product launches to meet demand, then scale down automatically with no downtime. Using this technology, FashionValet has also accelerated their product development timeline by 200% and reduced their infrastructure management costs by 75%.

Companies don’t have to bet their business on innovation, but they shouldn’t let legacy thinking hold them back. By actively empowering teams, clearing the path to “Yes,” and using small experiments, companies can build capability to promote high-velocity decisions – helping them operate at the speed of F1.

Business, Editorial

Cloud, 5G, Machine Learning & Space: Digital Trends Shaping the Future

June 15, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

The world is arguably never going to be the same after the COVID-19 pandemic. The sentiment rings true in many aspects and sectors even now, a year on. However, the effects of the pandemic have spurred our normal to take a digital shift in which more companies are accelerating their digital transformation journeys with some further than others. That said, the adoption of technologies has created waves and trends that seem to be influencing everything in our lives.

In a nutshell, these trends are going to change the way we approach a whole myriad of thing from the way we work to the way we shop. We’re seeing businesses like your regular mom and pop shops adopt cloud technologies to help spur growth while digital native businesses and companies are doing the same to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances. The adoption of technologies and, in particular, cloud technologies, is building resilience in businesses like never before.

Our interview with the Lead Technologist for the Asia Pacific Region at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mr Olivier Klein, sheds even more light on the trends that have and continue to emerge as businesses continue to navigate the pandemic and digitisation continues.

The Cloud Will Be Everywhere

As we see more and more businesses adopt technologies, a growing number of large, medium and small businesses will turn to cloud computing to stay competitive. In fact, businesses will be adopting cloud computing not only for agility but due to increasing expectations that will come from their customers. However, when referring to “The Cloud”, we are not only talking about things like machine learning, high performance computing, IoT and artificial intelligence (AI); we’re also talking about the simple things like data analytics and using digital channels.

pexels photomix company 106344 — Photo by **PhotoMIX Company** from **Pexels**

Digitization journeys are creating expectations on businesses to be agile and adaptable. That said, businesses with humble beginnings like Malaysia’s TF Value-Mart have been able to scale thanks to their willingness to modernize and migrate to the cloud. Their adoption of cloud technologies has created a more secure digital environment for their business and has augmented their speed and scalability. This has allowed them to scale from a single, mom and pop store in Bentong in 1998 to over 37 outlets today.

The demand for cloud solution is increasing and there’s no deny it. Even businesses like AWS have had to expand to accommodate the growing demands for digital infrastructure and services. The company has scaled from 4 regions in their first 5 years to 13 regions today with more coming in the near future. AWS’s upcoming regions include six upcoming regions, of which four are in Asia Pacific: in Jakarta, Hyderabad, Osaka and Melbourne.

Edge Computing Spurred by 5G & Work From Anywhere

In fact, according to Mr Klein, AWS sees the next push in Cloud Computing coming from the ASEAN region. This will, primarily, be spurred by the region’s adoption of 5G technologies. Countries like Japan and Singapore are already leading the way with Malaysia and other countries close behind. The emergence of 5G technologies is creating a new demand for technologies that allow businesses to have a more hybrid approach to their utilisation of Cloud technologies.

As companies continue to scale and innovate, a growing demand is emerging for lower latencies. While 5G allows low latency connections, some are beginning to require access to scalable cloud technologies on premises. Data security and low latency computing are primary drives behind this demand. Businesses are innovating faster than ever before and require some of their workloads to happen quicker with faster results. As a result, we see a growing need for services like AWS Outpost which allows businesses to bring cloud services on premises, and with their recent announcement at AWS re:Invent, Outposts are becoming even more accessible.

Edge computing is also part and parcel of cloud computing as the mode in which we work continues to change. With most businesses forced to work remotely during the pandemic, the trend seems to be sticking; companies are beginning to adopt a work from anywhere policy which allows for more employee flexibility and increased productivity. That said, not all workloads are able to follow where workers go. With the adoption of 5G, that is no longer the case. Businesses will be able to adopt services like AWS Wavelength to enable low latency connection to cloud services empowering the work from anywhere policies.

The same rings true when it comes to education. The growth experienced in the adoption of remote learning will continue. Services like Zoom and Blue Jeans have become integral tools for educators to reach their students and will continue to see their roles expand as educational institutions continue to see the increased importance of remote learning.

Machine Learning is The Way

As edge computing and Cloud become the norm, so too will machine learning. Machine learning is enabling companies to adopt new approaches and adapt to changing circumstances. The adoption of machine learning solutions has paved the way to new expectations from customers that has and will continue to spur its adoption. In fact, Mr Klein, tells us that businesses will not only be adopting machine learning for automation but also to provide better customer experiences. What’s more, a growing number of their customers are also going to expect it.

Machine Learning’s prevalence is going to grow in the coming years – that’s a given. Customers and users have already had their experiences augmented by AI and machine learning. This has and continues to create expectations on how user experiences should be. Take for instance, services like Netflix have been using machine learning and AI to recommend and surface content to their users. Newer streaming services which lack these integrations are seen to be subpar and are criticised by users.

lenny kuhne jHZ70nRk7Ns unsplash — Photo by Lenny Kuhne on Unsplash

Aside from user experiences, businesses are getting more accustomed to using machine learning to provide insights when it comes to making decision making and automating business operations. It has also enabled companies to innovate more readily. These conveniences will also be one of the largest factors in the increasing prevalence. It will also see increased adoption which will be largely attributed to the adoption and development of autonomous vehicles and other augmented solutions.

Companies like Moderna have been utilising machine learning to help create and innovate in their arena. They have benefitted from adopting machine learning in their labs and manufacturing processes. This has also allowed them to develop their mRNA vaccines which are currently being deployed to combat COVID-19.

To Infinity & Beyond

The growing adoption of digital and cloud solutions is also spurring a new wave of technologies which allow businesses deeper insights. These technologies allow businesses to access insights gained from satellite imaging. Data such as ground imaging and even ocean imaging can be used to gain actionable insights for businesses. Use cases are beginning to emerge from business involved in logistics, search and rescue and even retail.

However, the cost of building and putting a satellite in orbit is nonsensical for a business. That said, we already have thousands of them in orbit and it would make more sense to use them to help gain these insights. AWS is already introducing AWS Ground Station – a fully managed serve that gives businesses access to satellites to collect and downlink data which can then be processes in AWS Cloud.

These trends are simply a glance into an increasingly digitised and connected world where possibilities seem to be endless. Businesses are at the cusp of an age that will see them flourish if they are agile and willing to adopt new technologies and approaches that are, at this time, novel and unexplored.

Business, Contributed, Editorial

AWS Committed to Accelerating Malaysia’s Digital Transformation

March 26, 2021 Lee Chew Tan Leave a comment

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been a part of Malaysia’s digital transformation journey since 2015 when we established our presence in the country with a local marketing entity, AWS Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. The announcement by the Malaysian Government outlining the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint via MyDigital marks a milestone in the nation’s journey to transform to a digital economy, built on cloud computing. As part of this journey, AWS is delighted to be named as a Cloud Service Provider for the Government of Malaysia by the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU).

With the right technology, governments, nonprofits, economic development organisations, and other entities can improve their internal operations, become more productive and, ultimately, focus more acutely on serving citizens. This can support business growth and help citizens enjoy improved quality of life. As organisations increasingly embrace cloud-based solutions, long-lasting effects can be realised in the form of community-wide collaboration, partnerships with local businesses, and increased innovation. These organisations can in turn wield greater influence on economic development and growth. The cloud also provides affordable IT services for entrepreneurs, helping them start and scale companies quicker and more reliably. These efforts pave the way toward building new businesses and a more productive workforce, which boosts local economic development.

AWS works closely with state governments, education institutions, and not-for-profit organisations in Malaysia to accelerate innovation, increase agility, and drive cost savings through the cloud. Our Malaysian customers range from public sector entities such as Smart Selangor Delivery Unit (SSDU), Asia Pacific University, and other government agencies, to enterprises including Petronas, Maxis, Astro, and Boost (Axiata), to startups like StoreHub, FashionValet, and 123RF.

SSDU leverages cloud computing to transform government services

SSDU started working with AWS in 2018 when they first built a Citizens Electronic Payments Platform for Malaysians to access paid government services through a highly scalable and reliable central mobile and web portal on AWS. Using the centralised platform, SSDU was able to conduct data analysis in identifying trends with near real-time data generated across the entire Selangor state to forecast and optimise services, accelerating the development of new solutions without large upfront investments. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, SSDU rolled out an operation dashboard on AWS that provided critical data for making real-time decisions to enforce containment measures. Simultaneously, SSDU facilitated the shift of over 1,000 local traders to sell products from physical to online stores to enable business continuity.

Using AWS, SSDU gained the control and confidence they needed to securely run their platform with the most flexible and secure cloud computing environment available today. As an AWS customer, SSDU benefits from AWS data centres and a network architected to protect all customer information, identities, applications, and devices. With AWS, SSDU has improved its ability to meet core security and compliance requirements, such as data locality, protection, and confidentiality using AWS’s comprehensive services and features. We look forward to partnering with more government agencies, empowering them to transform their digital service offerings for citizens.

Optimising the educational experience with cloud

Education institutions, like Asia Pacific University in Malaysia, have gone all-in on AWS, moving their entire technology infrastructure to AWS in order to transform the teaching and learning experience. They are running a mobile application for a cashless campus, deploying IoT services for their student attendance and queue systems, and using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) for part of its learning environment. Asia Pacific University is delivering education resources to students 116 times faster than when they were using on-premises infrastructure, vastly improving students’ user experience.

Upskilling the next generation of cloud talent

Additionally, AWS Educate programme provides students and educators with resources and content that focus on building cloud skills in education institutions in Malaysia such as Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), and Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation. In August-September 2020, AWS held the ASEAN DeepRacer Women’s League to encourage young women in higher education institutions to acquire skills in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and discover how technology can be used to create innovations to solve real-world problems. Two Malaysian students attained the first and second runner-up in the ASEAN League.

young lady using laptop at table in modern workspace — Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com

AWS has also been nurturing the local startups in Malaysia, and providing cloud skilling to develop the future workforce. Through AWS startup programmes, we have helped reduce cost of experimentation and accelerate innovation with AWS promotional credits. For example, the AWS Trusted Advisor online tool helps startup customers reduce costs, increase performance, and improve security by checking their use of AWS services, and making suggestions to help optimise performance. We further offer a variety of free online education and livestreamed or on-demand training events for startups across Asia at every growth stage, including AWSome Days and the AWS Builders Online Series for early-stage founders new to the cloud. To date, AWS has supported and helped grow hundreds of startups that are headquartered in Malaysia.

AWS is deeply committed to providing Malaysia with the best-in-class cloud technology. We look forward to building upon our worldwide experience in working with over 7,500 government agencies, more than 14,000 academic institutions and over 35,000 nonprofit organisations, alongside millions of active customers across other vertical industries around the world, to support the Government of Malaysia on its digital transformation journey.

Computers, Contributed, Editorial

We’re in the Golden Age of Machine Learning, Tomorrow it will be Ubiquitous – Four Things We Need to Do Now

February 4, 2021 Swami Sivasubramanian Leave a comment

Today, thanks in large part to the cloud, actions such as communicating over text or transferring funds digitally are so commonplace, we hardly even think about how incredible these processes are; as we enter the golden age of machine learning, we can expect a similar boom of benefits that previously seemed impossible.

Machine learning is already helping companies make better and faster decisions. In healthcare, the use of predictive models created with machine learning is accelerating research and discovery of new drugs and treatment regiments. In other industries, it’s helping remote villages of Southeast Africa gain access to financial services, and matching individuals experiencing homelessness with housing.

While the short term applications are encouraging, machine learning could potentially have an even greater impact on our society. In the future, machine learning will be intertwined and under the hood of almost every application, business process, and end-user experience. However, before this technology becomes so ubiquitous that it’s almost boring, there are four key barriers to adoption we need to clear first.

Democratizing machine learning

The only way that machine learning will truly scale is if we as an industry make it easier for everyone – regardless of their skill level or resources – to be able to incorporate this sophisticated technology into applications and business processes.

green and white lights — Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

To achieve this, companies should take advantage of tools that have intelligence directly built into applications that their entire organization can benefit from. For instance, 123RF, a homegrown stock photography portal, aims to make design smarter, faster, and easier for users. To do so, it relies on Amazon Athena, Amazon Kinesis, and AWS Lambda for data pipeline processing. Its newer product Designs.ai Videomaker uses Amazon Polly to create voice-overs in more than 10 different languages. With AWS, 123RF has maintained flexibility in scaling its infrastructure and shortened product development cycles and is looking to incorporate other services to support its machine learning & AI research.

As processes go from being manual to automatic, workers are free to innovate and invent, and companies are empowered to be proactive instead of reactive. And as this technology becomes more intuitive and accessible, it can be applied to nearly every problem imaginable–from the toughest challenges in the IT department, to the biggest environmental issues in the world.

Upskilling workers

According to the World Economic Forum, the growth of AI could create 58 million net new jobs in the next few years. However, research suggests that there are currently only 300,000 AI engineers worldwide, and AI-related job postings are three times that of job searches with a widening divergence. Given this significant gap, organizations need to recognize that they simply aren’t going to be able to hire all the data scientists they need as they continue to implement machine learning into their work. Moreover, this pace of innovation will open doors and ultimately create jobs we can’t even begin to imagine today.

That’s why companies in the region like Asia Pacific University, DBS, Halodoc and others are finding innovative ways to encourage and nurture more young talents to gain new machine learning skills in fun, interactive hands-on ways, such as the AWS DeepRacer League. It’s critical that organizations should not only direct their efforts towards training the workforce they have with machine learning skills, but also invest in training programs that develop these important skills in the workforce of tomorrow.

Instilling trust in products

With anything new, often people are of two minds – either an emerging technology is a panacea and global savior, or it is a destructive force with cataclysmic tendencies. The reality is more often than not, a nuance somewhere in the middle. These disparate perspectives can be reconciled with information, transparency, and trust.

As a first step, leaders in the industry need to help companies and communities learn about machine learning, how it works, where it can be applied, ways to use it responsibly, and understand what it is not.

Second, in order to gain faith in machine learning products, they need to be built by diverse groups of people across gender, race, age, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, culture, and education. We will all benefit from individuals who bring varying backgrounds, ideas, and points of view to inventing new machine learning products.

Third, machine learning services should be rigorously tested, measuring accuracy against third party benchmarks. Benchmarks should be established by academia, as well as governments, and be applied to any machine learning-based service, creating a rubric for reliable results, as well as contextualizing results for use cases.

Regulation of machine learning

Finally, as a society, we need to agree on what parameters should be put in place governing how and when machine learning can be used. With any new technology, there has to be a balance in protecting civil rights while also allowing for continued innovation and practical application of the technology.

small judge gavel placed on table near folders — Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

Any organization working with machine learning technology should be engaging customers, researchers, academics, and others to best determine the benefits of its machine learning technology with the potential risks. And they should be in active conversation with policymakers, supporting legislation, and creating their own guidelines for the responsible use of machine learning technology. Transparency, open dialogue, and constant evaluation must always be prioritized to ensure that machine learning is applied appropriately and is continuously enhanced.

What’s next

Through machine learning we’ve already accomplished so much, and yet, it’s still day one (and we haven’t even had a cup coffee yet!). If we’re using machine learning to help endangered orangutans, just imagine how it could be used to help save and preserve our oceans and marine life. If we’re using this technology to create digital snapshots of the planet’s forests in real-time, imagine how it could be used to predict and prevent forest fires. If machine learning can be used to help connect small-holder farmers to the people and resources they need to achieve their economic potential, imagine how it could help end world hunger.

To achieve this reality, we as an industry, have a lot of work ahead of us. I’m incredibly optimistic that machine learning will help us solve some of the world’s toughest challenges and create amazing end-user experiences we’ve never even dreamt. Before we know it, machine learning will be as familiar as reaching for our phones.

Business, News

Maxis Becomes First Malaysian Telco Accredited as AWS Advanced Consulting Partner

December 21, 2020 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Maxis is one of the only telecommunications companies in Malaysia already embracing the cloud. The company embarked on its journey to become a one-stop provider for connectivity and infrastructure for Malaysia back in 2019 with an early partnership with AWS (Amazon Web Services) who is currently the most prolific web service platform in the world. Today, they are announcing that they have successfully achieved new accreditation as an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner; making them the only telecommunications company in Malaysia to have done so. This solidifies their claim to being one of the most equipped converged solutions providers in the country.

The new accreditation certifies that Maxis is equipped to provide its customers and partners with the technical support and know-how to migrate and sustain their businesses in the cloud. To achieve this, Maxis has to demonstrate a sustained competency in their workforce equipped and certified by AWS for the many services that their platform provides. This includes taking advantage of the Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence components available on AWS.

In addition to this, Maxis is now also offering AWS Direct Connect. AWS Direct Connect allows customers to access AWS directly via a dedicated network connection with one of the many AWS Connect locations using industry-standard 802.1q VLANs. This also allows customers to partition the connection into multiple virtual interfaces easing access to object instances in the AWS public and private clouds while maintaining network separation.

The new accreditation comes on the heels of Maxis having announced key acquisitions that have bolstered the company’s position as one of the most equipped telecommunications companies in Malaysia able to empower businesses in their digitization journey. The company has also been certified in the AWS Public Sector Partner program with over 300 Maxis employees being accredited and undergone comprehensive training by AWS.

Business, Contributed

Four Steps to Accelerate Your Machine Learning Journey

October 20, 2020 Swami Sivasubramanian Leave a comment

This is the golden age of machine learning (ML). Once considered peripheral, ML technology is becoming a core part of businesses around the world, regardless of the industry. By 2021, the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that spending on artificial intelligence (AI) and other cognitive technologies will exceed $50 billion.

Locally, 25% of organizations say they are setting aside at least 10% of their budget for technology, which includes investments in big data analytics (64%), cloud computing (57%), Machine Learning and artificial intelligence (33%), and robotic process automation (27%), based on the Malaysian Institute of Accountants’ “MIA-ACCA Business Outlook Report 2020″. [1] As more companies gain awareness of the importance of ML, they should work towards getting it in motion as quickly and effectively as possible.

person using a laptop — Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

At Amazon, we have been on our own ML journey for more than two decades – applying it to areas like personalization, supply chain management, and forecasting systems for our fulfillment process. Today, there is not a single business function at Amazon that is not made better through machine learning.

Whether your company is just getting started or in the middle of your first implementation, here are the four steps you should take to have a successful machine learning journey.

Get Your Data in Order

When it comes to adopting machine learning, data is often cited as the number one challenge. We found that more than 50% of time spent in building ML models can be spent in data wrangling, data cleanup, and pre-processing stages. Therefore, prioritize investing in the establishment of a strong data strategy to avoid spending excessive time and resources on data cleanup and management.

person holding white printer paper — Photo by bongkarn thanyakij on Pexels.com

When starting out, the three most important questions to ask are:

What data is available today?
What data can be made available?
A year from now, what data will we wish we had started collecting today?

In order to determine what data is available today, you will need to overcome data hugging – the tendency for teams to gatekeep data they work with most closely. Breaking down silos between teams for a more expansive view of the data landscape while still maintaining data governance is crucial for long-term success.

Additionally, identify what data actually matters as part of your machine learning approach. Think about best ways to store data and invest early in the data processing tools for de-identification and/or anonymization, if needed.

Identify the Right Business Problems

When evaluating what and how to apply ML, focus on assessing the problem across three dimensions: data readiness, business impact, and machine learning applicability.

Balancing speed with business value is key. Instead of trying to embark on a three-year ML project, focus on a handful of critical business use cases that could be solved in the upcoming six to 10 months. Start by identifying places where you already have a lot of untapped data and evaluate if machine learning brings benefits. Avoid picking a problem that is flashy but has unclear business value, as it will end up becoming a one-off experiment.

Champion a Culture of Machine Learning

In order to scale, you need to champion a culture of machine learning. At its core, ML is experimentation. Therefore, it is imperative that your organization embrace failures and take a long-term view of what is possible.

high angle photo of robot — Photo by Alex Knight on Pexels.com

Businesses also need to combine a blend of technical and domain experts to work backward from the customer problem. Assembling the right group of people also helps eliminate the cultural barrier to adoption with a quicker buy-in from the business.

Similarly, leaders should constantly find ways to simplify the process of ML adoption for their developers. Since building ML infrastructures at scale is a time and labor-intensive process, leaders should encourage their teams to use tools that cover the entire ML workflow to build, train, and deploy these models efficiently.

For instance, 123RF, a homegrown stock photography portal, aims to make design smarter, faster, and easier for users. To do so, it relies on Amazon Athena, Amazon Kinesis, and AWS Lambda for data pipeline processing. Its newer products like Designs.ai Videomaker uses Amazon Polly to create voice-overs in more than 10 different languages. With AWS, 123RF has maintained flexibility in scaling its infrastructure and shortened product development cycles and is looking to incorporate other services to support its machine learning & AI research.

Develop Your Team

Developing your team is essential to foster a successful machine learning culture. Rather than spending resources to recruit new talent in a competitive market, hone in on developing your company’s internal talent through robust training programs.

Years ago, Amazon created an in-house Machine Learning University (MLU) to help its own developers sharpen their ML skills or equip neophytes with tools to get started. We made the same machine learning courses available to all developers through AWS’s Training and Certification offering.

DBS Bank, a Singaporean multinational bank, employed a different approach. It is collaborating with AWS to train its employees to program their own ML-powered AWS DeepRacer autonomous 1/18^th scale car, and race among themselves at the DBS x AWS DeepRacer League. Through this initiative, it aims to train at least 3,000 employees to be conversant in AI and ML by year end.

[1] MIA (Malaysian Institute of Accountants) and ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), Business Outlook Report 2020, 2020

Business, Editorial

Digitization – The Key to Business Resilience During a Pandemic

October 9, 2020 Nur Jeevan 1 Comment

COVID-19 poses a unique challenge to businesses, forcing them to adopt practices which many only saw further down the road when it came to their digitization plans. In fact, we’ve seen the effects of the pandemic on many businesses who have failed to adapt or adopt plans to build in resilience in these unprecedented times. That said, the big question remains, “How can businesses be more resilient with the COVID-19 reality?”.

There are many factors that lend itself to a business’s resilience but one of the biggest factors is the company’s progress in their plans for digitization. Conor McNamara, Managing Director of ASEAN at Amazon Web Services (AWS), highlights that a company’s progress towards digitization, particularly in their adoption of cloud technologies, has been one of the determining factors of resilience during these times. He has also highlighted that the transition to the cloud isn’t simply a technological one, it’s a multifaceted one that builds in capacity, increases agility, changes mindsets, and transforms the culture of an organisation.

Thriving Businesses Have Used COVID-19 as an Impetus for Digitization

No one can deny it. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way that companies and businesses need to operate. Research has shown that the new realities of the pandemic have led to an increase in demand for resources such as the internet. This is inevitably spurred by the increased adoption of work from home policies necessitated by lockdowns the world over – a clear indication that our business realities have changed. This is corroborated by AWS, which reported an increased uptake of services such as Amazon Chime, their web-conferencing platform, Amazon Workspaces and other productivity related services.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of digital transformation across all industries. So far indications are that organizations, including those in ASEAN, have already adopted DX plans and/or accelerated their transformation plans have been known to have coped better with the crisis.”
Daphne Chung, Research Director, IDC Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) cloud services, and software research group

That said, digitization doesn’t happen overnight. Companies have to create an environment that allows and empowers staff and decision makers to adopt technologies such as AWS. The adoption of public and private cloud technologies have allowed many AWS customers to adapt to the new realities more seamlessly. In fact, Globe Telecom was able to spin up virtual call centers with Amazon Connect which allowed them to adapt to the new realities with ease and even increase staff productivity since the pandemic hit. What’s more, the company was able to affect this transition in 24 hours. Of course, the reality is that not many companies will be able to do this.

“Many businesses and organizations have now understood the importance of the cloud and are committed more than ever to get their business on the cloud. At AWS, we keep many organizations functioning, and allow them to adapt when a crisis such as the pandemic occurs.”
Conor McNamara, Managing Director of ASEAN at Amazon Web Services

The new realities of the pandemic have allowed companies to expedite their plans for digitization and cloud adoption. Those who have been successful in taking advantage of the new realities as an impetus for plans already in the pipeline are the ones who have most demonstrated the most resilience with the current situation.

Executive Driven Digitization Policies Spur Resilience

It’s always been said that digitization is a journey. Yet, we never think to ask who would be the best to guide and determine the course the company takes. Conor McNamara stresses that the business resilience of any given orgranisation is very dependent on the company’s executives. Decisions and policies made by CXOs are what will enable companies to maximize the opportunity that COVID-19 has presented to accelerate a company’s digital trajectory.

It’s pretty simple; when the decision to adopt cloud technologies and further advance the company’s digital journey comes from the level of CXOs, it naturally sets off a cascade which will allow companies to think differently. The CEO’s acceptance that the future of business is in the cloud sets off a cascade of events that start with the search for and upskilling of staff to meet the new needs of the business. The demand for skills that enable the company to be competitive and prepared for further advancements in their journey. It also creates a new mindset mired in the need to be agile and proactive to meet customer needs.

IDC sees an opportunity to manage the downturn better by using technology to minimize the impact of the current crisis and emerge on the other side of the curve resilient, more digitally fit and agile, and ultimately, better equipped to capture their share of the new opportunities as part of the “next normal”.
Daphne Chung, Research Director, IDC Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) cloud services, and software research group

This impetus prepares businesses to handle situations like the current pandemic. The skills, demands and needs of businesses literally changed overnight as countries began to lockdown. Brick and mortar businesses were forced to consider adopting digital and cloud technologies to keep their businesses viable. Businesses which were already making the shift to cloud and digital technologies with CXO driven policies have so far been the most resilient and adaptable.

In fact, the current realities have been used as an opportunity to upskill workforces. AWS shares that since the beginning of the lockdowns, there has been a sharp uptick in the demand for certification courses and trainings in their AWS Education platform.

It’s a People Related Change

Perhaps the most important quote we can share from Conor McNamara is this: “[Digital Transformation] is a People related change”. He said this while he was explaining some of the new realities AWS’s customers have been facing – and when it comes to it, it seems like the statement rings true in every aspect of a business’ digital transformation; every step of the way involves dealing with people.

The digital transformation journey is one that involves a major cultural change. A change that shifts the mindset of preparedness to deal with any given situation. Creating a culture of work which prepares staff for ambiguity and change. In some cases, these businesses have made failure a norm. They adopt providers such as AWS to minimise the cost of failure and continue to innovate. This is one of the hallmarks of a business which has been able to deal with the realities of the pandemic. These companies are ready or have already adopted cloud and are prepared for the new work from home norm; it wouldn’t be too farfetched to say that they may be the ones best prepared for the next norm post COVID.

Adopting cloud and shifting to digital usually has the connotation of being cold and impersonal. However, one take away from businesses that are showing resilience is that it couldn’t be further from the truth. These businesses have shifted their focus to their clients and customers building solutions catered to their needs. Perhaps more importantly, their digital transformation and shift to the cloud has made them more cognizant to the needs of their clients and customers.

Business Resilience is Built from the Top Down and Empowered by the right technologies

Essentially, business resilience is built from the top down with policies spearheaded by CXOs and CEOs that drive a cultural change in the company; one which prepares them for sudden and constant change, allowing businesses to be agile and adaptable. That said, these changes are empowered by companies such as AWS who provide the cost optimizations and technologies that allow this shift to happen. This has been tried and tested with the harsh realities of the pandemic.

Business, Contributed

The Top Skills a Cloud Architect Needs to Be Successful

August 27, 2020 Paul Chen Leave a comment

As the world rapidly evolves, digitalization is taking place across all aspects of life, and ushering in a rise in cloud adoption. Today, it is vital for employees to understand and acquire the skills it takes to succeed and stay relevant for jobs in the digital economy. Cloud architects must keep up with the pace by adapting and expanding their existing skillset in order to be considered valuable candidates and employees.

As cloud adoption rises, it is not surprising to see growing demand for cloud expertise. Based on the Malaysian Institute of Accounts’ “MIA-ACCA Business Outlook Report 2020,” 25% of organizations in Malaysia say they are allocating at least 10% of their budget for technology, including investing in big data analytics (64%), cloud computing (57%) and more.[1] Yet, research shows that 90% of IT decision-makers report cloud skills shortages in their workforce.[2]

woman standing while carrying laptop — Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

When I first started out in the IT industry years ago, the role of cloud architect was almost nonexistent. However, cloud adoption has grown considerably since then, and the role of cloud architect is currently in high demand and will continue to present endless opportunities for business growth and innovation.

But first – what does a cloud architect do?

Cloud architects are responsible for managing an organization’s cloud computing architecture. They have in-depth knowledge of the architectural principles and services used to develop technical cloud strategy, assist with cloud migration efforts, review workload architectures, and provide guidance on how to address high-risk issues. To do this, cloud architects need a mix of business, technical, and people skills, as well as an understanding of the always-evolving, technical training that may benefit their team.

At Amazon Web Services (AWS), I lead a team of cloud solutions architect in Southeast Asia, and we are constantly on the lookout for individuals with a builder’s mentality and a desire to build, invent, and innovate on behalf of their customers. This is especially important as the role of cloud architect has evolved beyond just architecting infrastructure solutions like database and storage, to building and innovating reliable solutions that involve emerging technologies such as machine learning.

What skills are most important for a cloud architect?

Flexibility and Eagerness to Learn

A cloud architect must be able to work in a wide variety of scenarios and be open to learn the unique requirements of each project. With a curious mind-set, cloud architects can be better equipped to seek out new approaches to problem solving.

schedule planning startup launching — Photo by Startup Stock Photos on Pexels.com

Time Management

Cloud architecture professionals must possess strong time management skills. Their days are varied and can include customer meetings to discuss problems and needs and designing architectural frameworks for those needs. As such, cloud architects are mindful to plan their days, prioritize their time on tasks, and understand how to maximize small pockets of time.

Communication Skills, Business Acumen, and Decisiveness

Cloud architects are encouraged to ask for a seat at the decision-making table and be prepared to communicate their design to any stakeholder. Successful cloud architects know how to communicate to audiences with little or no technical knowledge, while aligning their recommendations to business imperatives and the bottom-line. Other than that, stakeholders also rely on cloud architects to provide guidance from a calm, leading place of domain authority.

Industry Technical Credentials

A cloud architect must also possess the necessary technical skills to serve as the foundation for cloud architecture planning and management, including basic programming, software development and continuous integration, database, networking and security skills, modern application architecture skills, and more.

woman coding on computer — Photo by ThisIsEngineering on Pexels.com

Additionally, cloud architects can attain an industry-recognized certification, such as the new AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification, which validates the ability to design and deploy well-architected solutions on AWS that meet customer requirements.

Over the last few years, I have seen cloud computing evolve from a relatively unknown technology to a leading driver of business results. While the technology has grown and changed significantly, most skills needed to succeed in its use have remained largely constant. By committing to understand how to use cloud to its full potential – and empowering the professionals who make that possible – we can make the most of the tremendous opportunity cloud creates for businesses and employees to thrive.

[1] MIA (Malaysian Institute of Accountants) and ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), Business Outlook Report 2020, 2020

[2] Global Knowledge, 2018 IT Skills and Salary Report, 2018.

Business

Discovering AWS Outposts with Paul Chen

August 12, 2020 Nur Jeevan 1 Comment

This interview transcript is intended as a supplement to our editorial – AWS Outposts – Empowering Innovation & Low Latency Connectivity

AWS recently announced the availability of it’s new AWS Outposts solution in Malaysia, Thailand and many other countries. To find out more about the new service, we recently had an email interviews with Mr. Paul Chen, the Head of Solutions Architect for ASEAN at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Paul Chen is the head of Architecture for Amazon Web Services ASEAN, Paul is responsible for managing a regional team of Solutions Architects, creating architectural best practices and working with customers on how they use the cloud for business transformation.

He has 30 years of pre-sales leadership and solutions experience in the IT Industry, with 15+ years in technical management across ASEAN and Asia Pacific. His breath
of technology experience includes cloud architectures, application solutions development, database platforms, web-based applications, networking, enterprise mobility solutions, virtualized unified communications and customer experience platforms.

Can you briefly explain AWS Outposts?

AWS Outposts is here to support your applications that have low latency or local data processing requirements on premise. These applications may need to make near real time responses to end user applications or need to communicate with other on-premises systems or control on-site equipment. These can include workloads running on factory floors for automated operations in manufacturing, real time patient diagnosis or medical imaging, and content and media streaming. You can use AWS Outposts to run applications that need to access data stores that will continue to remain on-premises.

Businesses in Malaysia are stuck somewhere in between when it comes to could computing and going digital. Can AWS Outposts help them accelerate their digitisation? How can they benefit from it?

We continue to believe that in the fullness of time, the vast majority of companies will run almost all of their IT workloads in the cloud. It is today and always has been a priority for us to make it easy for customers to run AWS as a seamless extension of their existing on-premises infrastructure. However, we have many customers who are going to be running on-premises data centers alongside AWS for many years to come and at varying paces. These customers are looking to us to help ensure that they have seamless integration between these two environments. That’s why we have been investing so much in hybrid capabilities over the past several years.

AWS offers the broadest and deepest hybrid capabilities including data integration and transport services, integrated and dedicated networking services, and identity and access management solutions fully integrated with the on-premises environment. Today, customers can take the tools they have from VMware and use them to run their workloads on AWS. This partnership makes it easy for customers to run in a hybrid mode between AWS and their VMware-based on-premises deployments using the same VMware tools and skillsets they have today. And with the availability of AWS Outposts, customers can now use the same AWS APIs, control plane, tools, and hardware on-premises and in the AWS cloud to deliver a truly consistent hybrid experience.

Why choose Outposts instead of using the AWS’s pre-existing cloud infrastructure?

AWS Outposts is designed for several different uses cases where workloads need to run on premises due to latency requirements, like:

Manufacturing automation—operating manufacturing process control systems and automated plant assembly lines
Health care—delivering real-time medical diagnostics and imaging to physicians
Telecommunications—building new network services and deploying virtual network functionality
Media & entertainment—delivering live event streaming, real-time gaming, rendering, and VFX
Financial services—developing low latency trading platforms in a secure environment
Retail—delivering real-time interactive retail services and unifying apps across environments

With Outposts, customer can benefit of running low-latency workloads, processing data locally and be able to harness the innovative services available on the AWS cloud. This can mean advanced analytics to monetize data or adding machine learning and artificial intelligence services such as Amazon Rekognition, Amazon Personalize and Amazon Comprehend.

Customers should run AWS Local Zones when they need to run their applications with single-digit millisecond latencies close to end users, but they don’t want to build and operate a datacenter or co-location facility. They can run the parts of their application in the Local Zone that requires ultra-low latency and connect back to the rest of their application and the full range of services running in AWS.

Customers should run AWS Wavelength when they want to build an applications that require single digit millisecond latency to mobile and connected devices over the 5G network. A range of emerging applications like machine learning inference, industrial IoT, and AR/VR require ultra-low latency to serve mobile users and connected devices, ad developers can place the parts of their application that require single-digit millisecond latency at the edge of the 5G network and then connect back to the rest of the application and the full range of services in AWS.

During the launch at AWS Re:invent last year, AWS announced that it was partnering with Verizon in the US. Why launch with a telco provider?

Amazon is partnering with Verizon to incorporate AWS WaveLength technology into parts of its wireless network. Amazon is also working with other global partners, such as Vodafone, KDDI and SK Telecom to provide this capability. This capability will result in fewer disruptions and shorter lag times when streaming videos, among other applications.

Who are your partners in rolling out Outposts in Malaysia? What are the roles that they are playing in providing the service to customers?

One of the partners in Malaysia is Maxis where they will incorporate Maxis cloud offerings and professional services to incorporate hybrid cloud and technologies to address edge computing.

We also have InfoFabrica who will be working with us to help outfit interested customers with Outposts.

We operate on a few models; customers will come directly to us or work with partners with Malaysia. Marketplace model – direct from us. Reseller model – contact reseller and work with the customers on the Outposts. – NSI model – customer work through NSI.

AWS Partner Network (APN) Partners provide technology and consulting services to help customers migrate, build, and run applications using AWS services.

APN Consulting Partners around the globe can help you with strategy and technology advisory services to migrate your on-premises applications onto Outposts as well as a variety of installation and maintenance options. You can also use Outposts validated technology partner solutions to build and run your applications on Outposts.

More information on AWS Outposts Partners

Does Outpost require a stable internet connection to operate? Can customers use Outpost offline? What happens to workloads if internet connection is lost suddenly?

To provide a consistent user experience, AWS advises customers to have 1GB internet over direct connect or VPN. The rack only needs 10MB to run but AWS recommends a default of 1 GB to be safe.

An AWS Outpost relies on connectivity to the parent AWS Region. AWS Outposts are not designed for disconnected operations or environments with limited to no connectivity. We recommend that customers have highly available networking connections back to their AWS Region. If interested in leveraging AWS services in disconnected environments such as cruise ships or remote mining locations, learn more about AWS services such as Snowball Edge.

If connection is lost suddenly, EC2 instances and EBS volumes on the Outpost will continue to operate normally and can be accessed locally via the local gateway. Similarly, AWS service resources such as ECS worker nodes continue to run locally. However, API availability will be degraded, for instance run/start/stop/terminate APIs may not work. Instance metrics and logs will continue to be cached locally for a few hours and will be pushed to the AWS Region when connectivity returns. Disconnection beyond a few hours however may result in loss of metrics and logs. As Route53 DNS will not resolve when disconnected, an on-premises DNS resolver should be used if network disconnections are expected. If you expect to lose network connectivity, we strongly recommend regularly testing your workload to ensure it behaves properly in this state when an Outpost is disconnected.

woman holding laptop beside glass wall — Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

AWS Outposts are a managed service according to your website. What does “Fully Managed” mean? What does this entail?

AWS Outposts is the only fully managed offering available to customers today. AWS delivers, installs, and maintains the infrastructure the same way as we do in our data centers. Competitive offerings do not address key customer pain points in a production grade hybrid environment. They require customers to build against a limited set of services and APIs, forcing them to write custom software that quickly becomes inconsistent and incompatible with cloud services. It requires customers to set up and manage different operating environments for each site, resulting in duplicate effort, higher complexity, and increased risk. Customers must also manually manage, upgrade, and patch software themselves, and risk dropping out of compliance if they fail to upgrade. Customers also have to purchase hardware from third party vendors, who are responsible for providing the first line of customer support, making it administratively difficult to debug and resolve their issues.

How secure is AWS Outpost? Are there built-in redundancies when it comes to preventing data loss and data security?

Each AWS Outposts rack has a built-in tamper detection and a lockable door. AWS engineered a capability in a form of security key that looks like a screw specifically made for the chip. To remove the hardware from the rack, you must use the screw and turn it and it will crush the security chip key and once its crushed, the server and the data is protected. It is also encrypted by default.

AWS Outposts builds on the AWS Nitro system technologies that enables AWS to provide enhanced security that continuously monitors, protects, and verifies your Outpost’s instance hardware and firmware. With AWS Nitro, virtualization resources are offloaded to dedicated hardware and software minimizing the attack surface. Finally, Nitro System’s security model is locked down and prohibits administrative access, eliminating the possibility of human error and tampering.

AWS Outposts have an updated shared responsibility model underlying security. AWS is responsible for protecting Outposts’ infrastructure similar to how it secures infrastructure in the cloud today. Customers are responsible for securing their applications running on Outposts as they do in the Region today. With Outposts, customers are also responsible for the physical security of their Outpost racks, and for ensuring consistent networking to the Outpost.

Securing data

Data-at-rest: Data is encrypted at rest by default on EBS volumes on Outposts.
Data-in-transit: Data is encrypted in transit between Outposts and the AWS Region.
Deleting data: All data is deleted when instances are terminated in the same way as in the AWS Region.

AWS Outposts have been out for more than half a year now. How many countries is the service available in?

Outposts can be shipped to and installed in the following countries

NA – US, Canada, Mexico
EMEA – All EU countries, Switzerland, Norway, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Israel, South Africa
APAC – Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India
SA – Brazil

Support for more countries is coming soon.

Have there been any particular segment of customers that have adopted Outposts more than others? Do you see an opportunity for other segments to take advantage of Outpost?

There has been broad interest in AWS Outposts from both enterprise and start up customers, across a range of industries including financial services, e-commerce, healthcare and manufacturing.

With AWS Outposts infrastructure, customers in manufacturing can AWS services to run manufacturing process control systems such as MES and SCADA systems and applications that need to run close to factory floor equipment. These on-premises applications can integrate with services running in the AWS Region for centralized operations.

Healthcare customers can apply analytics and machine learning AWS services to health management systems that need to remain on premises due to low latency processing requirements. This will enable rapid retrieval of medical information by storing data locally on Outposts.

At the launch, Andy Jassy mentioned that the launch of AWS Outposts is step in providing services for edge computing. How does Outposts do this?

One common scenario for AWS Outposts is running applications that need single-digit millisecond latency to end-users or onsite equipment. Customer may want to run graphics-intensive applications such as image analysis that need low-latency access to end-users or storage-intensive workloads that collect and process hundreds of TBs daily. Others may need to run compute-intensive workloads on their manufacturing factory floors with precision and quality. Customers want to integrate their cloud deployments with their on-premises environments and use AWS services for a consistent hybrid experience. Outposts is both a way to deploy an AWS-centric hybrid-cloud and an edge computing approach.

How do you see the landscape changing with the introduction of AWS Outposts?

With the introduction of AWS Outposts, customer from a broad array of industries can bring the benefits of cloud computing right to their business door-steps. Business solutions requiring low latency performance can seamlessly be integrated to the cloud and deployed to provide a truly hybrid experience. Customers that have large amount of on-premise data can also process these sets of data in more meaningful ways to monetize the data assets. In this AWS hybrid-cloud approach, you use the same AWS application programming interfaces (API), tools and infrastructure both on your premises and the AWS cloud. Outposts bring native AWS services, infrastructure, and operating models to virtually any data center, co-location space, or on-premises facility.

With Malaysia’s big move into supporting and growing its tech space, particularly its animation and game development segment, where do you see AWS Outposts fitting in?

In the gaming industry, the applications tend to be very sensitive to latency and require considerable processing resources to provide rich animation and customer experience.

With AWS Outposts, gaming developers will have access to the latest GPU innovations on premises for graphics processing, audio and video rendering, and for running other media applications. Support live and real-time event streaming applications that require low latency by running those applications in on-premises locations close to end users.

techENT