AWS Heroes React to AWS re:Invent 2020 Announcements 🤯
Tags: aws
Published: 2020-12-03 23:03:43

### 🚨 During re:Invent this article is being constantly updated. 
### 👋 Keep checking in to see new reactions! 

### 👉👉 [Jump to the reactions](#aws-hero-reactions-and-analysis) 👈👈


<table>
<thead><th><strong>Week 1</strong> — Andy Jassy's (CEO) Keynote, Amplify Admin UI</th></thead>
<tbody><tr><td>
<a href="#andy-jassy-keynote-aws-reinvent-2020">Mark Nunnikhoven</a>,
<a href="#aws-announces-babelfish-open-source-postgres-with-sql-server-compatibility">Álvaro Hernández</a>,
<a href="#serverless-comes-to-machine-learning-with-container-image-support-in-aws-lambda">Luca Bianchi</a>,
<a href="#andy-jassys-8-keys-to-success-aws-reinvent-2020-keynote">Teri Radichel</a>,
<a href="#5-takeaways-from-andy-jassys-big-reinvent-keynote">Forrest Brazeal</a>,
<a href="#aws-lambda-can-now-run-php-using-docker-containers">Matthieu Napoli</a>,
<a href="#wait-did-aws-just-rewrite-the-manual-again-for-building-apps">Chase Douglas</a>,
<a href="#serverless-at-reinvent-2020-hot-takes-1">Yan Cui</a>,
<a href="#database-announcements-at-reinvent-2020">Franck Pachot</a>,
<a href="#deploying-a-ml-model-using-the-new-aws-lambda-container-image-functionality">Matt Coulter</a>,
<a href="#an-aws-hero-reacts-to-the-io2-block-express-announcement">Dave Stauffacher</a>,
<a href="#using-container-images-with-aws-lambda">Michael Hart</a>,
<a href="#the-year-of-serverless">Farrah Campbell</a>,
<a href="#aurora-serverless-v2-the-good-the-better-and-the-possibly-amazing">Jeremy Daly</a>,
<a href="#aws-lambda-container-image-support-example-for-nodejs">Sebastian Müller</a>,
<a href="#reinvent-2020-recap-week-1">Chris Williams</a>,

</td></tr></tbody>
<thead><th><strong>Week 2</strong> — ML and Infrastrucutre Keynotes</th></thead>
<tbody><tr><td>
<a href="#teach-me-amazon-codeguru">Tomasz Ptak</a>,
<a href="#lambda-containers-with-rails-a-perfect-match">Ken Collins</a>,
<a href="#aws-machine-learning-keynote-live-reinvent-2020">Zamira Jaupaj</a>,
<a href="#imatreinvent-aws-reinvent-2020-machine-learning-keynote-analysis-special">Mike Chambers</a>,
<a href="#aws-heroes-reactions-to-swami-sivasubramanian-keynote-on-machine-learning">Luca Bianchi</a>,
<a href="#all-the-machine-learning-announcements-at-aws-reinvent-2020">Gillian Armstrong</a>,
<a href="#recap-of-the-reinvent-2020-s3-announcements">Dave Stauffacher</a>,
<a href="#sagemaker-clarify-is-the-most-important-announcement-of-reinvent-2020">Kesha Williams</a>,
<a href="#aws-reinvent-2020-machine-learning-keynote-recap-and-highlights">Juv Chan</a>

</td></tr></tbody>
<thead><th><strong>Week 3</strong> — Werner Vogels's (CTO) Keynote</th></thead>
<tbody><tr><td>
<a href="#amazon-s3-now-delivers-strong-read-after-write-consistency">Renato Losio</a>,
<a href="#aws-reinvent-2020-machine-learning-keynote-recap-and-highlights"> Mark Nunnikhoven </a>
</td></tr></tbody>
</table>

## Preamble 
### What is re:Invent?

re:Invent is Amazon Web Service's (AWS) 5-day technology conference held in Las Vegas Nevada. Last year's conference had **65,000+ attendance** from around the world.

### Why is re:Invent so important?

re:Invent is when AWS announces new features, improvements and cloud services. It's also a lot of fun, with hands-on training, creative demos project, lucrative swag and more!

### What is different this year?

Due to the world situation AWS has made a few changes:
- The conference is 100% virtual
- Attendance is free (you still need to [register](https://register.virtual.awsevents.com/?sc_icampaign=event_reInvent_RegisterNow&sc_ichannel=ha&sc_icontent=eventsite_reinvent20&sc_ioutcome=Strategic_Events&sc_iplace=evnav&trk=direct))
- The conference is 3 weeks long

### What is an AWS Hero?

An AWS Hero is a recognized community leader in a specific category of cloud technologies.

### What is this article?

There are thousands of talks and hundreds of announcements, and if you live a busy life, it can be hard to find the time to digest all the changes.

This reaction article is to help contextualize the AWS announcements with some personal thoughts or expert opinion so you have an idea of how you can apply these in your future workloads.


## AWS Hero Reactions and Analysis

### Week 1

#### **[Andy Jassy Keynote, AWS Re:Invent 2020](https://markn.ca/2020/andy-jassy-keynote-aws-reinvent/)**

No longer do we really have to worry about significant up front entry costs, capacity limits, or start up times. We have more power available via one API call than an entire data center from ten years ago. But if you don’t change how you approach using these tools, you won’t see... [(read full article)](https://markn.ca/2020/andy-jassy-keynote-aws-reinvent/)

*By [Mark Nunnikhoven] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/mark-nunnikhoven/), AWS Community Hero* 

#### **[AWS announces Babelfish: open source Postgres with SQL Server compatibility] (https://www.ongres.com/blog/aws_announces_open_source_postgres_with_sql_server_compatibility/)**

But if it weren’t enough, SQL Server equivalent catalogs and also the SQL Server wire protocol (TDS) has been implemented. This means that you will be able to talk to Postgres Babelfish as if it were... [(read full article)](https://www.ongres.com/blog/aws_announces_open_source_postgres_with_sql_server_compatibility/)

*By [Álvaro Hernández] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/alvaro-hernandez/), AWS Data Hero* 

#### **[Serverless comes to machine learning with container image support in AWS Lambda] (https://towardsdatascience.com/serverless-comes-to-machine-learning-with-container-image-support-in-aws-lambda-ee9d729d48d7)**

AWS announced a long-awaited update for AWS Lambda by many developers and data scientists because it could change the way we build functions. It comes with bonus features that make this release something very welcome in the serverless world: starting from today it is possible to... [(read full article)](https://towardsdatascience.com/serverless-comes-to-machine-learning-with-container-image-support-in-aws-lambda-ee9d729d48d7)

*By [Luca Bianchi] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/luca-bianchi/), AWS Serverless Hero*

#### **[Andy Jassy’s 8 keys to success ~ AWS re:Invent 2020 Keynote] (https://medium.com/cloud-security/keys-to-aws-success-3a4ab2abebb9)**

AWS is at the top of the Gartner Magic Quadrant in 2020 — again. In fact, they widened the gap between themselves and next closest provider in the past year. Andy Jassy provided some keys to success at the AWS in his... [(read full article)](https://medium.com/cloud-security/keys-to-aws-success-3a4ab2abebb9)

*By [Teri Radichel] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/teri-radichel/), AWS Community Hero*

#### **[5 takeaways from Andy Jassy’s big re:Invent keynote] (https://acloudguru.com/blog/engineering/5-takeaways-from-andy-jassys-big-reinvent-keynote)**

To tie all that together, we got AWS Proton – a fully managed deployment service for containers and serverless apps. Notice how those two concepts are starting to blend together? Watch for that trend to... [(read full article)](https://acloudguru.com/blog/engineering/5-takeaways-from-andy-jassys-big-reinvent-keynote)

*By [Forrest Brazeal] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/forrest-brazeal/), AWS Serverless Hero*

#### **[AWS Lambda can now run PHP using Docker Containers] (https://mnapoli.fr/aws-lambda-php-docker-containers/)**

The good news is that while Lambda functions are limited to 250MB, containers can be up to 10GB. That will certainly help when deploying large monoliths to Lambda. One limitation to keep in mind is that after... [(read full article)](https://mnapoli.fr/aws-lambda-php-docker-containers/)

*By [Matthieu Napoli](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/matthieu-napoli/), AWS Serverless Hero*

#### **[Wait, did AWS just rewrite the manual again for building apps?] (https://www.stackery.io/blog/reinvent-2020-andy-jassy-keynote-modern-architecture/)**

Andy Jassy's re:Invent keynote today was chock full of new features and services. I'm here to help break down the most important news related to modern application architecture… [(read full article)](https://www.stackery.io/blog/reinvent-2020-andy-jassy-keynote-modern-architecture/)

*By [Chase Douglas] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/chase-douglas/), AWS Serverless Hero*


#### **[Serverless at re:Invent 2020 – hot takes #1](https://theburningmonk.com/2020/12/serverless-at-reinvent-2020-hot-takes-1/)**

Lambda now bills you by the ms as opposed to 100 ms. So if your function runs for 42ms you will be billed for 42ms, not 100ms. This instantly makes everyone’s lambda bills cheaper without anyone having to lift a finger. It’s the best kind of optimization! However, this might not mean much in… [(read full article)](https://theburningmonk.com/2020/12/serverless-at-reinvent-2020-hot-takes-1/)

*By [Yan Cui](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/yan-cui/), AWS Serverless Hero*

#### **[Database announcements at re:Invent 2020] (https://blog.dbi-services.com/database-announcements-at-reinvent-2020/)**

There are 3 important new launches announced around databases: Babelfish for Aurora, Aurora Serverless v2 and AWS Glue Elastic Views but let’s start by a recap of the pre-reInvent new features from this year… [(read full article)]( https://blog.dbi-services.com/database-announcements-at-reinvent-2020/)

*By [Franck Pachot] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/franck-pachot/), AWS Data Hero*


#### **[Deploying a ML model using the new AWS Lambda Container Image Functionality] (https://dev.to/aws-heroes/deploying-a-ml-model-using-the-new-aws-lambda-container-image-functionality-4e7o)**

This week at re:Invent we saw AWS announce the ability to bring your own container to Lambda functions. The scenario that gets me super excited is the deployment of ML models inside Lambda. Before, it was just too awkward for most use cases to do ML in Lambda but I will demonstrate below that it is very easy now… [(read full article)]( https://dev.to/aws-heroes/deploying-a-ml-model-using-the-new-aws-lambda-container-image-functionality-4e7o)

*By [Matt Coulter] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/matt-coulter/), AWS DevTools Hero*

#### **[An AWS Hero reacts to the io2 Block Express announcement] (https://dev.to/aws-heroes/an-aws-hero-reacts-to-the-io2-block-express-announcement-4d70)**

I want to talk about the elegance that is io2 Block Express and why it truly is the first "Cloud SAN". In a traditional high performance and highly available Storage Area Network, data traffic between a storage array and the consuming server rides on a dedicated network… [(read full article)]( https://dev.to/aws-heroes/an-aws-hero-reacts-to-the-io2-block-express-announcement-4d70)

*By [Dave Stauffacher] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/dave-stauffacher/), AWS Community Hero*


#### **[Using container images with AWS Lambda] (https://hichaelmart.medium.com/using-container-images-with-aws-lambda-7ffbd23697f1)**

Container Image Support has just been announced for AWS Lambda and it’s a pretty big deal — I’m very excited because it’s something I’ve wanted for years… [(read full article)](https://hichaelmart.medium.com/using-container-images-with-aws-lambda-7ffbd23697f1)

*By [Michael Hart] (https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/michael-hart/), AWS Serverless Hero*


#### **[The Year of Serverless](https://www.stackery.io/blog/the-year-of-serverless/)**

Danilo and Sheen are incredibly smart engineers and have done great things at the LEGO group. They’re also both great at sharing their knowledge. From the talk abstract: After experiencing scaling issues on Black Friday, the LEGO team fully refactored its monolith to serverless microservices... [(read the full article)](https://www.stackery.io/blog/the-year-of-serverless/)

*By [Farrah Campbell](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/farrah-campbell/), AWS Serverless Hero*


#### **[Aurora Serverless v2: The Good, the Better, and the Possibly Amazing]( https://www.jeremydaly.com/aurora-serverless-v2-preview/)**

That all changed with the introduction of Amazon Aurora Serverless v2. I finally got access to the preview and spent a few hours trying to break it. My first impression? This thing might just be a silver bullet! I know that’s a bold statement. 😉 But even though I’ve only been using it for a few hours… [(read the full article)]( https://www.jeremydaly.com/aurora-serverless-v2-preview/)

*By [Jeremy Daly](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/jeremy-daly/), AWS Serverless Hero*


#### **[AWS Lambda Container Image Support example for Node.js](https://sbstjn.com/blog/aws-lambda-container-docker-example/)**

I build a Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment setup for AWS Lambda functions with docker images using GitHub Actions. Together with Semantic Releases and Conventional Commits, you can focus on writing your code. Automation takes care everything else... [(read the full article)](https://sbstjn.com/blog/aws-lambda-container-docker-example/)

*By [Sebastian Müller](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/sebastian-mueller/), AWS Serverless Hero*

#### **[re:Invent 2020 re:Cap (week 1)](https://mistwire.com/2020/12/reinvent-2020-recap-week-1/)**

A tacit acknowledgement that other computers exist on the planet that DO NOT belong to AWS. This will make multicloud efforts easier even though Jassy still did not say the word “multicloud”... [(read the full article)](https://mistwire.com/2020/12/reinvent-2020-recap-week-1/)

*By [Chris Williams](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/chris-williams/), AWS Community Hero*

### Week 2

#### **[ Teach me, Amazon CodeGuru]( https://dev.to/breadcentric/teach-me-amazon-codeguru-3dp3)**

CodeGuru Reviewer is a code analysis utility provided by AWS. It initially provided analysis for Java, this year Python was added. I haven't used it before, mainly because all of my Java code is work code and I haven't had much to run it against… [(read the full article)]( https://dev.to/breadcentric/teach-me-amazon-codeguru-3dp3)

*By [Tomasz Ptak](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/tomasz-ptak/), AWS Machine Learning Hero*


#### **[Lambda Containers with Rails; A Perfect Match!]( https://dev.to/breadcentric/teach-me-amazon-codeguru-3dp3)**


A few weeks ago when I started this serverless & container series we talked about how to use Docker in your AWS Lambda projects with SAM. Who could have known that today I get to share in the recent AWS Lambda Container Image Support news by announcing that Lamby works out of the box with both ZIP and Container deployment packages...
[(read the full article)](https://dev.to/aws-heroes/lambda-containers-with-rails-a-perfect-match-4lgb)

*By [Ken Collins](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/ken-collins/), AWS Serverless Hero*


#### **[AWS Machine Learning keynote live re:Invent 2020](https://zamirajaupaj.medium.com/machine-learning-keynote-liveblog-re-invent-2020-9abab404a280)**

A detailed breakdown of the announcements for the AWS ML Keynote... [(read the full article)](https://zamirajaupaj.medium.com/machine-learning-keynote-liveblog-re-invent-2020-9abab404a280)

*By [Zamira Jaupaj](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/zamira-jaupaj/), AWS Community Hero*

#### [#ImAtReInvent - AWS reInvent 2020 Machine Learning Keynote Analysis Special](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDe8833La5A&feature=youtu.be)

{% youtube BDe8833La5A %}

*By [Mike Chambers](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/mike-chambers/?did=dh_card&trk=dh_card), AWS Machine Learning Hero*

#### **[AWS Heroes reactions to Swami Sivasubramanian keynote on Machine Learning]( https://dev.to/aws-heroes/aws-heroes-reactions-to-swami-sivasubramanian-keynote-on-machine-learning-cjj)**

Since talking about machine learning is super cool, and AWS is announcing a lot of new features and services, Swami is not the only keynote with AI stuff in it: Andy Jassy delivered a couple of mind-blowing news last Tuesday, and Dr. Matt Wood joined Swami to further deep dive... [(read the full article)]( https://dev.to/aws-heroes/aws-heroes-reactions-to-swami-sivasubramanian-keynote-on-machine-learning-cjj)

*By [Luca Bianchi](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/luca-bianchi/), AWS Serverless Hero*

#### **[All the Machine Learning Announcements at AWS re:Invent 2020]( https://virtualgill.medium.com/all-the-machine-learning-announcements-at-aws-re-invent-2020-ce3b9f917599)**

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all the Machine Learning announcements so far? Here’s your quick catch-up... [(read the full article)]( https://virtualgill.medium.com/all-the-machine-learning-announcements-at-aws-re-invent-2020-ce3b9f917599)

*By [Gillian Armstrong](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/gillian-armstrong/), AWS Machine Learning Hero*

#### **[Recap of the Re:Invent 2020 S3 announcements]( https://dev.to/davebuildscloud/recap-of-the-re-invent-2020-s3-announcements-3akj)**

This week I thought it would be good to recap the list of S3 announcements that have been made thus far during the conference... [(read the full article)]( https://dev.to/davebuildscloud/recap-of-the-re-invent-2020-s3-announcements-3akj)

*By [Dave Stauffacher](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/dave-stauffacher/), AWS Community Hero*


#### **[SageMaker Clarify is the most important announcement of re:Invent 2020]( https://acloudguru.com/blog/engineering/sagemaker-clarify-is-the-most-important-reinvent-announcement-of-the-year)**

I literally cheered when Swami Sivasubramanian announced Amazon SageMaker Clarify, which expands the capabilities of SageMaker by detecting and mitigating bias in datasets and models. I believe Amazon SageMaker Clarify is the most important announcement out of AWS re:Invent this year... [(read the full article)]( https://acloudguru.com/blog/engineering/sagemaker-clarify-is-the-most-important-reinvent-announcement-of-the-year)

*By [Kesha Williams](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/kesha-williams/), AWS Machine Learning Hero*

#### **[AWS re:Invent 2020 Machine Learning Keynote Recap and Highlights]( https://juvchan.medium.com/aws-re-invent-2020-machine-learning-keynote-recap-7f14e31819fa)**

Welcome to the first-ever Machine Learning Keynote at AWS re:Invent. Let’s recap the key highlights in their chronological order... [(read the full article)]( https://juvchan.medium.com/aws-re-invent-2020-machine-learning-keynote-recap-7f14e31819fa)

*By [Juv Chan](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/juv-chan/), AWS Machine Learning Hero*

#### **[Amazon S3 Now Delivers Strong Read After Write Consistency]( https://www.infoq.com/news/2020/12/aws-s3-strong-consistency/)**

To guarantee higher availability and better performances, S3 has for years relied on an eventual consistency model. During the first week of re:invent, AWS announced that S3 now supports strong read-after-write consistency.... [(read the full article)]( https://www.infoq.com/news/2020/12/aws-s3-strong-consistency/)

*By [Renato Losio](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/renato-losio/), AWS Data Hero*

#### **[Breaking Down The Werner Vogels Keynote – re:Invent 2020]( https://acloudguru.com/blog/engineering/breaking-down-the-werner-vogels-keynote-reinvent-2020)**

When Dr. Werner Vogels, the CTO of Amazon, takes the stage, builders listen. Why? Because every year Dr. Vogels, or simply “Werner” as he’s better known, speaks directly to the core challenges that people building in the cloud face... [(read the full article)]( https://acloudguru.com/blog/engineering/breaking-down-the-werner-vogels-keynote-reinvent-2020)

*By [Mark Nunnikhoven](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/mark-nunnikhoven/), AWS Community Hero*