#cloudchat Recap: AWS Features, Expertise and Managed Services

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#cloudchat Recap: AWS Features, Expertise and Managed Services

As our own Senior Solutions Architect Jerry Hargrove would put it, keeping up with the ever-evolving nature of AWS is a full-time job. The scale of innovation can be intimidating to keep up with and master, to say the least.

That’s why we took to #cloudchat this week to uncover how our experts and others stay up-to-date on the latest features and expertise, and discuss what role a managed service provider can play to ensure success. Much like the breadth of AWS offerings, the conversation was fast-paced and exciting.

Miss a #cloudchat? We have all the #cloudchat recaps here on the blog!

We were joined by Rackspace’s own AWS Evangelist and Cloud Architect Eric Johnson, Senior Data Solutions Architect Shirley Cohen and Senior Solutions Architect Jerry Hargrove. Other experts weighing in included AWS’s Nathan Peck, Cybric’s mike d. kail, Trend Micro’s Mark Nunnikhoven, Red Hat’s Thomas Cameron and ShiftLeft’s Matt Weagle. The group debated the following:

  • Q1: How much does it take you, in terms of IT resources, to operate, secure and optimize #AWS?
  • Q2: What are the most important types of expertise required to successfully implement #AWS? How can you best access the right talent?
  • Q3: How do you keep up with the rapid release of #AWS features and updates to ensure you’re getting the most out of AWS?
  • Q4: What are the specific #AWS features or services you’re most excited about right now and why?
  • Q5: Ideally, what should the role of MSPs be in ensuring a successful #AWS implementation, both during the initial deployment and beyond?

Migrating to AWS can be a complex task without the right expertise, so we asked the cloud chatters what it takes in terms of IT resources to ensure success. Thomas Cameron explained “Slightly less or equivalent resources to running a datacenter of equivalent capacity, but the density and agility in #AWS tends to be better. So net reduction in resources/cost.”

https://twitter.com/thomasdcameron/status/931206924670001152

AWS’s Nathan Peck chimed in stating that AWS allows you to do more with fewer people:

https://twitter.com/nathankpeck/status/931206980827582464

Knowing you can accomplish great things with fewer people means the talent you do have must be stellar. The group debated what skills are needed to implement AWS – and almost unanimously, our experts agreed having the ability to learn and adapt is key.

https://twitter.com/efeatherston/status/931208889491689473

So how exactly do you keep up with the beast that is AWS? After all – Nathan Peck’s graph demonstrating the service and feature launches per year was well, incredible.

https://twitter.com/nathankpeck/status/931213768658472960

Shirley Cohen said she keeps up by testing out new features and getting hands on experience, and Matt Weagle turns to industry leaders in the Twitter community to keep up.

https://twitter.com/shirley_cohen_/status/931210519738044416

https://twitter.com/mweagle/status/931211884153282560

We asked our #cloudchat experts what AWS features or services they are particularly excited about (hint: we’re looking at you re:Invent). Mark Nunnikhoven wants to dive deeper into Amazon Machine Learning and mike d. kail has his gazes set toward this year’s re:Invent announcements.

https://twitter.com/marknca/status/931213881157881856

https://twitter.com/mdkail/status/931213338377273344

Finally, we discussed what role a Managed Service Provider should play. Nathan Peck clearly put that “A MSP should be able to help you pick implementation patterns that not only serve you today, but scale well when your service takes off tomorrow.”

https://twitter.com/nathankpeck/status/931217266531815424

Enjoy this week’s discussion on AWS features and expertise? You can read more of the conversation below in our Twitter Moment, and be sure to join our final AWS-themed Twitter chat on 11/30 as we talk through AWS implementation stories.

https://twitter.com/i/moments/931246364834586634