Exploring the Unexpected Highlights of AWS re:Invent 2021

LAS VEGAS — At the recent AWS re:Invent keynote, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman introduced Database Savings Plans, a new offering designed to reduce costs for core services such as Aurora, RDS, and DynamoDB by up to 35% in exchange for a one-year commitment.

The announcement of the Database Savings Plans received a resounding cheer from the audience, highlighting the ongoing challenge faced by cloud customers in managing costs for essential services, despite the advancement of AI technologies.

These new plans aim to provide increased flexibility to developers, allowing them to switch database engines or change regions without losing the discount, addressing a long-standing concern in the industry.

Corey Quinn of Last Week in AWS, known for his expertise in optimizing AWS bills, described the Database Savings Plans as a significant improvement, although he noted some limitations such as the one-year term, exclusion of older instance generations, and lack of coverage for storage or backup costs.

Garman also introduced Lambda durable functions, a feature that allows serverless code to pause and wait for long-running background tasks without failing, which was another crowd favorite during the keynote.

The rapid-fire presentation of 25 non-AI product launches with an on-stage shot clock showcased the breadth of AWS offerings, emphasizing that not all attendees were solely interested in AI news.

Garman strategically saved the announcement of the Database Savings Plans for the final seconds, generating excitement among the audience and receiving a positive response.

Overall, the introduction of Database Savings Plans and other key upgrades at the re:Invent keynote demonstrated AWS’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of developers and businesses in the cloud computing landscape.