Welcome to our series—the ultimate AWS re:Invent 2021 recap, showcasing companies that we spoke to on the expo floor.
I have already covered companies operating in the fields of cloud services and automation, cloud security, and data security. In this last (but not least) part of our four-part series, I’ll dive into the coolest big data technologies—plus some other great companies that we just couldn’t leave out!
IOD CEO Ofir Nachmani and I were delighted to meet up with the team of Granulate, one of our clients! Despite the steady traffic at their booth, Keren Shmuely and Tom Amsterdam were able to take some time to greet us and to make sure we got the best of their company’s swag!
Granulate held several activities at re:Invent 2021, including a networking event, a live demo led by Tom Amsterdam, and many others…
Granulate has dominated the press lately, what with being ranked by Enterprise Viewpoint as one of the Top 20 DevSecOps solutions, winning DevOps Innovation of The Year at the Tech Ascension Awards, and more. Kudos to the Granulate team!
About the company: Granulate is an AI-powered optimization layer that dramatically improves performance by creating a streamlined environment for any app. Applying dynamic low-level adaptations, Granulate lets organizations handle their compute workloads with 60% fewer servers, improve throughput by 5x per server, and reduce latency by 40%. (Source: Granulate)
IOD team at Accenture’s booth
Cloudera was represented at re:Invent 2021 by some super cool people. The Cloudera reps were very busy, attracting large crowds with their demo. They also got a lot of traction through the session “GCP is the best of AWS and private cloud” led by Sushant Rao, Senior Director of Product Marketing. We are grateful to Veronique Lafontaine and other Cloudera representatives who took the time to talk to us about the company’s technologies and solutions.
About the company: An AWS partner, Cloudera helps organizations extract more value from their data in the cloud. Cloudera customers can rapidly, confidently, and cost-effectively discover, procure, and deploy the world’s first enterprise data cloud, powered by AWS. They get faster time-to-insight from their advanced analytics and machine learning services, all while leveraging the power of the public cloud. (Source: Cloudera.com)
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On the last day of the conference, I visited Matillion, which I feel was one of the best-designed booths on the expo floor. I spoke with Kathleen O’Neil and other reps and learned more about the company’s products and services. Apart from the buzz of participating in the most important cloud event of the year, the vibrant atmosphere at the Matillion booth can also be explained by their recent announcement of a big round of funding—$150 million at a company valuation of $1.5 billion.
It was not lost on me that Matillion’s booth was located right next to Snowflake, underscoring their message that the cloud data integration journey starts with Matilion and Snowflake, together. More specifically, the message was “how to get the most out of the Snowflake platform with Matillion ETL in action.”
About the company: Matillion makes the world’s data useful with an easy-to-use, cloud-native data integration and transformation platform. Optimized for today’s enterprise data teams, Matillion is uniquely built on native integrations to cloud data platforms for new levels of efficiency and productivity. (Source: Matillion.com)
There’s no way we were going to miss visiting our client Epsagon—whose booth was next to Cisco following their recently announced acquisition of Epsagon, touted by Cisco as part of their global strategy to advance full-stack observability. We were very excited to catch up with Nitzan Shapira, Epsagon’s co-founder, and his team.
The booth was very busy, with lots of people engaging with Epsagon reps regarding their design partner program that aims to shape the next generation of observability platforms.
About the company: Epsagon’s groundbreaking microservices-native observability platform simplifies cloud-native application development for engineering leaders, devs, and architects by promoting cross-team knowledge about app architecture. With Epsagon, organizations of all sizes can confidently scale and iterate services faster. (Source: Epsagon)
Pluralsight acquired A Cloud Guru (ACG) earlier this year in an effort to bridge the growing cloud skills gap and contribute to the future of cloud learning through unparalleled expertise and engaging hands-on learning experiences.
“With our acquisition of A Cloud Guru, we are now positioned to deliver the most comprehensive solution for driving cloud maturity at scale through an all-in-one solution for cloud skill development,” said Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight.
Lots of people were swinging by to speak to company reps—and to play a fun game where you toss a chip to try to hit two targets. Of course, I played the game, with the help of Michelle Kozma. To add to the festive mood, there was also a raffle for a Onewheel Pint board and kit!
About the company: A Cloud Guru (ACG) began as a single cloud certification course and has grown into the leader in cloud learning. They have helped 2 million novices, gurus, and everyone in between to advance their career in the cloud, prepare for certification exams, and progress through learning paths to become gurus in digital and cloud innovation.
About the company: Pluralsight Skills helps enterprises build technology skills at scale with expert-authored courses on today’s most important technologies including cloud, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, and security. It also offers tools to align skill development with business objectives, virtual instructor-led training, hands-on labs, skill assessments, and one-of-a-kind analytics. (Sources: Acloudguru.com, Pluralsight.com)
Another very impressive booth I visited was NetApp’s. They had one of the biggest booths on the expo floor, and NetApp reps created a very cool atmosphere to engage their audience and promote their products and services. Their branding efforts, facilities, activities, and enthusiasm generated a lot of great energy.
It is especially interesting to see how a traditional data storage and management vendor has become one of the biggest AWS partners and is shaping the future of cloud data management. In fact, one of the most exciting announcements at re:Invent 2021 was NetApp being named AWS ISV Design Partner of the Year – U.S. “This award recognizes NetApp for collaborating with AWS on launching the Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP service,” Anuj Komar, NetApp’s SVP for WW Cloud Sales, posted on LinkedIn.
Horizontal growth is an important part of NetApp’s cloud strategy, with some of its more recent acquisitions being CloudCheckr and Spot (which was the booth right next to it).
About the company: NetApp, Inc. provides both on-premises and cloud storage and data management solutions to enterprises, government agencies, and universities worldwide. (Source: Bloomberg)
Salesforce, an AWS strategic partner, took up an entire hall to literally create a Salesforce microcosm! Ofir and I were so excited to walk around the world they created, with different stations presenting demos of their diverse services. We also talked with Salesforce reps to get the latest updates, including their partnership with AWS. We couldn’t help but wonder if we will soon be hearing that AWS is acquiring Salesforce…
For a taste of our exciting on-site experience, take a look at this video:
IOD team at Salesforce booth at AWS re:Invent 2021
Summarizing the Series
AWS re:Invent was a blast! We were thrilled to be able to attend the conference in person, speak with so many professionals, and witness the elite of cloud technology companies in action! The expo floor was more vibrant than ever and there’s no way that we could cover it all. We do hope that you enjoyed our sampling of who was exhibiting at the premier cloud event of the year!
Kudos to all the companies and looking forward to covering AWS re:Invent 2022🥳
ICYMI – Below you can find all the other parts of the AWS re:Invent expo floor recap series:
5 Top Takeaways from re:Invent 2024: Bedrock, Trainium, and a Clock on Every Server
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Claude Sonnet 3.5: A New Chapter in AI Evolution – Part 1
Imagine walking down a busy city street when a sleek Porsche catches your eye. You take a quick photo and ask your AI assistant: “What
Expectations Ahead of AWS re:Invent 2024: Cloud Infrastructure Management, Security, and the Truth Behind the GenAI “Hype”
Similar to last year, AWS re:invent 2024 will have a heavy GenAI focus, a move some have been questioning. But what’s really behind this decision?
