Back
Back to Blog

AWS re:Invent 2021 highlights

December 9, 2021
Andrii Rybakov

The AWS re:Invent conference took place last week in Las Vegas. This year, it was the 10th re:Invent, and fortunately, it could return to an offline format after being a digital conference due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, it was the first such event under Adam Selipsky, the new AWS CEO. So this occasion was different from the previous ones, in many positive senses. 

Here are the highlights of the most notable announcements Amazon Web Services made during the re:Invent 2021 conference. 

New processors & instance types

Selipsky introduced a new processor, Graviton3. It follows a well-known Graviton2 chip. Thus, like the previous chips, Graviton3 is an in-house developed AWS processor designed for cloud computing. The relevant processor line provides lower energy consumption, faster processing, and other multiple critical features. 

But Graviton3 is considered a big step forward. It offers 25% better performance compared to its predecessor and uses 60% less energy. Among other significant advantages are that Graviton performs 2x faster compared to floating-point performance for scientific workloads, 2x faster for cryptographic workloads, and 3x faster for ML workloads. 

In addition to that, Selipsky announced a new type of EC2 instance called C7G. The particular type will use the already mentioned Graviton3 processors. Finally, the AWS CEO introduced the TRN1 instance for EC2. Amazon Web Services optimized this instance for the ML training cluster that involves sharing workloads across numerous machines. 

AWS Mainframe Modernization

The next service announced by Selipsky is AWS Mainframe Modernization that allows planning, migrating, modernizing, and running on-premise mainframe workloads to a relevant managed execution environment on Amazon Web Services. The major objective of this framework is mitigating risks and accelerating mainframe to cloud projects. AWS Mainframe Modernization provides re-platforming (Micro Focus), along with automated refactoring (BluAge). 

The particular framework offers an integrated platform that allows combining appropriate toolchains for all patterns. After all, customers can use AWS Mainframe Modernization during all the migration stages. 

AWS Private 5G

AWS Private 5G is also among the new services introduced by Adam Selipsky. This service allows setting up and scaling a Private 5G network thanks to the AWS infrastructure. Amazon Web Services provides the necessary hardware, configuration, and an unlimited amount of devices you can connect to the relevant network. AWS Private 5G offers a pay-as-you-go model, which is incredibly flexible for customers. Besides, it applies to numerous industries that look for significantly fast connectivity to the cloud. 

Lake Formation row & cell-level security

Selipsky introduced row and cell-level security features for AWS Lake Formation. This popular AWS service is used for aggregating data from many various sources and storing it securely and reliably. Row and cell-level security make it possible for administrators to provide data tables with granular access controls. That ensures information security is not compromised. 

Lake Formation Transactions

In addition to row and cell-level security, Selipsky introduced Transactions for governed tables supporting ACID. Thanks to transactions, customers can rely on their data lakes. That allows handling conflicts and errors between relevant datasets, ensuring consistent views, and eliminating the need for specific error handling code. 

Serverless options

During the conference, there was also a critical serverless announcement in terms of data and analytics. Adam Selipsky introduced new serverless modes for well-known analytics services such as Redshift, EMR, MSK, or Kinesis. Since configuring and managing infrastructure for such services was a great pain, AWS decided to take the burden of maintaining off the developers’ hands and manage it behind the scenes. Ultimately, clients can benefit from much lower costs thanks to using serverless versions of the mentioned products. 

AWS IoT Twinmaker

The announcement of IoT Twinmaker is aimed at the industrial sector. It helps developers build digital twins of the physical infrastructure. Applying this service allows connecting physical devices such as equipment sensors to the AWS cloud and generating digital representations of the hardware. In turn, customers can obtain updates of the connected data in real-time. 

Wrap up

Amazon Web Services is the most profitable Amazon’s arm that recorded more than $45 billion in revenue last year. That enables the parent company to expand to newer territories and invest in new technologies. Therefore, the AWS re:Invent 2021 was among the most looked forward to conferences. Fortunately, the company’s new CEO, Adam Selipsky, has made several groundbreaking announcements and continues its innovative path.

Schedule your free technology consultation

Get Started

Don't miss these posts: