AWS CEO at re:Invent: Garman Touts AI Updates, Jassy Talks Nova

AWS RE:INVENT — Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, in his Tuesday keynote at AWS re:Invent, discussed some incremental enhancements to compute and storage tools, and touted generative AI − every cloud computing provider’s top priority − claiming AWS’ version as changing every industry.

AWS channel head Ruba Borno is slated to speak on Wednesday afternoon (despite speculation she would not in the wake of controversy surrounding her Palestinian necklace), so there should be key partner news tomorrow.

Garman, who recently told the Wall Street Journal that “needle-moving” AI updates are forthcoming, reviewed some AI-centric changes to Bedrock, Sagemaker and other platforms for developers, and more unveilings are slated for Wednesday, per Garman. This page contains all the details.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Garman’s keynote was the surprise appearance of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Jassy, the former AWS CEO, took the stage to talk about how the retailer uses AI.

“We prioritize technology that we think is going to really matter for customers, and with the explosion of generative AI the last couple years, we've taken that same approach … but what we're trying to do is solve problems for you — what we think of as practical AI,” Jassy said.

Related:AWS re:Invent: Channel News from Oracle, VMware, More

Jassy also introduced a new AI foundational model, called Nova. 

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy at AWS re:Invent 2024, Las Vegas, Dec. 3. Courtesy: AWS

Nova targets developers and, given its description, appears similar to tools AWS rivals Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud already have debuted — think processing image, video and text inputs and generating video via AI, as two examples. 

Indeed, analysts have said AWS is trailing in the AI wars and needs to do more to catch up. Perhaps as a way of mitigating any eyebrow-raising, Jassy said this: “Human beings don't go to one human being for expertise in every single area. You have different human beings who are great at different things.”

Garman later summed up the latest AWS CEO keynote with this: “We are at a seminal point. … I don't just mean the innovation that's coming from AWS. I’m really excited about the innovation that we're seeing from customers, from partners, from enterprises, from incredible startups … There has never been a better time to be innovating, and you've never had access to such a rich set of capable tools to help you do it.”

Amazon Partner Network Winners

Meanwhile, AWS published its latest list of Amazon Partner Network awards. We’ve whittled down the roster to showcase some of the key channel brands, which include managed service providers, system integrators and consultancies.

AWS chose its latest round of geo and global AWS Partner Network winners based on “strict criteria"; channel-focused research firm Canalys, a Channel Futures sister company, then reviewed and audited the results. Note that we have only included some categories along with select winner names, minus the finalists.

MSP Partner of the Year

Global: eCloudvalley Technology PTE LTD

SaaS System Integrator Partner of the Year

Global: AllCloud

Rising Star Partner of the Year (Consulting/Technology)

Consulting

North America: Zeb

EMEA: Cognetiks Consulting

Technology

North America: Udemy

EMEA: Anodot

AWS Marketplace Channel Partner of the Year

Global: CDW (plus Sirius)

EMEA: Computacenter

Consulting Partner of the Year

Global: Accenture 

North America: Deloitte 

EMEA: Deloitte 

Distributor Partner of the Year

Global: Ingram Micro 

North America: TD Synnex Corp.

EMEA: Redington Gulf (Value Div.) 

Rising Star Distributor Partner of the Year

North America: Carahsoft Technology Corp

EMEA: Arrow 

Security Partner of the Year

Global Consulting: Deloitte

Consulting: Mission Cloud (which just sold to CDW)

Migration Partner of the Year

Global Consulting: Accenture

Consulting: Caylent 

Data and Analytics Partner of the Year

Global Consulting: Tata Consultancy Services

GenAI Global Partner of the Year

Global Consulting: Deloitte

Consulting: Slalom

Public Sector Global Consulting Partner of the Year

Global: Accenture 

North America: Deloitte

Find the complete list of APN winners here.