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Listen "AWS re:Invent 2025 Wrapped"
Episode Synopsis
Matt and Georgia recap AWS re:Invent 2025 with special guest Michael Walmsley, AWS Serverless Hero and Global Technology Architect at Accenture. Fresh from the Vegas event with 70,000 attendees, they discuss the major announcements, the shift toward AI agents, and Michael's wild experience coding on a bus for a $100K hackathon prize.
Highlights
Road to re:Invent Hackathon
50 developers coded on buses traveling LA to Vegas over 5 hours
Michael's team built "Lucky Loo.me" - an AI bathroom finder using facial recognition
Winning team created "Oric" - an IDE that turns 3 lines into 3,000 lines of AI slop
Prize: $100K split among the winning team
The Big Theme: AI Agents Everywhere
"Agents" was the dominant word at every booth
AWS pushing agent capabilities into every service team
Evolution from general AI (2024) to production agent platforms (2025)
Announcements we covered:
Agent Core Updates
New policy controls for blocking unauthorized actions
Evaluation tools for inspecting agent behavior
Progressive adoption - use pieces without adopting the whole platform
AWS Agent Marketplace
Vendors can now sell pre-built agents
Example: Cloud Zero cost management agent
Lambda Updates
Lambda managed instances
Durable functions for long-running workflows in code
Alternative for developers who don't want Step Functions
S3 Vectors (GA)
Store 20 trillion vectors in one bucket
90% cost savings vs traditional vector databases
Sub-100ms query times for frequent queries
"S3 is the cheapest database on the planet"
CloudWatch Unified Data Store
All logs and metrics exposed in S3 Tables
Cheap, structured SQL querying of observability data
AWS Interconnect ⭐ Biggest Surprise
High-speed encrypted links between AWS and Google Cloud
Azure support coming 2026
Free during preview (pricing TBA)
Major shift from AWS's anti-multi-cloud stance
Acknowledges multi-cloud reality in enterprises
Kiro
Rebranding away from confusing "Amazon Q" umbrella
Kiro Powers: AI-activated tool modules
Reduces context bloat in coding agents
Active hackathon scene with significant prize pools
Guest
Michael Walmsley - AWS Serverless Hero, Global Technology Architect at Accenture, specializing in serverless and SaaS architecture. Fourth year attending re:Invent.
Key Takeaway
AWS is maturing from general AI capabilities to production-ready agent platforms while finally embracing multi-cloud architectures. The focus has shifted to making agents secure, manageable, and practical for enterprise use.
Highlights
Road to re:Invent Hackathon
50 developers coded on buses traveling LA to Vegas over 5 hours
Michael's team built "Lucky Loo.me" - an AI bathroom finder using facial recognition
Winning team created "Oric" - an IDE that turns 3 lines into 3,000 lines of AI slop
Prize: $100K split among the winning team
The Big Theme: AI Agents Everywhere
"Agents" was the dominant word at every booth
AWS pushing agent capabilities into every service team
Evolution from general AI (2024) to production agent platforms (2025)
Announcements we covered:
Agent Core Updates
New policy controls for blocking unauthorized actions
Evaluation tools for inspecting agent behavior
Progressive adoption - use pieces without adopting the whole platform
AWS Agent Marketplace
Vendors can now sell pre-built agents
Example: Cloud Zero cost management agent
Lambda Updates
Lambda managed instances
Durable functions for long-running workflows in code
Alternative for developers who don't want Step Functions
S3 Vectors (GA)
Store 20 trillion vectors in one bucket
90% cost savings vs traditional vector databases
Sub-100ms query times for frequent queries
"S3 is the cheapest database on the planet"
CloudWatch Unified Data Store
All logs and metrics exposed in S3 Tables
Cheap, structured SQL querying of observability data
AWS Interconnect ⭐ Biggest Surprise
High-speed encrypted links between AWS and Google Cloud
Azure support coming 2026
Free during preview (pricing TBA)
Major shift from AWS's anti-multi-cloud stance
Acknowledges multi-cloud reality in enterprises
Kiro
Rebranding away from confusing "Amazon Q" umbrella
Kiro Powers: AI-activated tool modules
Reduces context bloat in coding agents
Active hackathon scene with significant prize pools
Guest
Michael Walmsley - AWS Serverless Hero, Global Technology Architect at Accenture, specializing in serverless and SaaS architecture. Fourth year attending re:Invent.
Key Takeaway
AWS is maturing from general AI capabilities to production-ready agent platforms while finally embracing multi-cloud architectures. The focus has shifted to making agents secure, manageable, and practical for enterprise use.
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