AWS re:Invent 2021 - AWS Canada

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 19:43:51 +0000

I attended the virtual AWS re:Invent Session to learn about the latest updates for AWS Canada. Recently I was on GlobalNews Radio discussing how AWS is building a second region, AWS Canada West in the Calgary region. That means more high paying tech jobs in Canada. Here's some quick facts provided to me about AWS Canada:

Quick facts about AWS Canada:

o Launched in 2016, the AWS Canada (Central) Region has three Availability Zones - each
made up of one or more discrete data centres. Each has redundant power, networking
and connectivity, housed in separate facilities.

▪ The AWS Canada (Central) Region continues to grow in Montreal since
launching in December 2016. Since then, we’ve tripled the number of services
available to our customers. In 2021, we added Amazon Connect—the
omnichannel cloud contact center solution, and Amazon Quantum Ledger
Database (QLDB)—a fully managed ledger database.

o In October 2021, AWS announced it is building a second region, AWS Canada West
(Calgary) Region. This region with 3 Availability zones will launch in late 2023/early
2024. The new Region will enable customers with data residency preferences to
securely store data in Canada while providing even lower latency across the country and
more flexibility to run applications across multiple Regions.

o The AWS global infrastructure is comprised of 81 Availability Zones within 25 geographic
Regions with announced plans for 27 more Availability Zones and nine more Regions in
Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the
United Arab Emirates.

o The global network of AWS Edge locations now consists of more than 310 Points of
Presence (more than 300 Edge Locations and 13 Regional Edge Caches) in more than 90
cities across 47 countries. There are six in Canada, in Toronto (3), Montreal (2) and
Vancouver (1).

o In Canada, AWS employs 2,800 professionals - these include solution architects, data
center technicians, account managers, sales representatives, professional service
consultants, technical account managers, software development engineers, and cloud
experts.
▪ There are currently more than 500 open roles as AWS in Canada.

o We currently have three Amazon offices in Canada (Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto)
where we have developers, sales, marketing, and business development for our local
customers and channel partners. Our Winnipeg office is home to AWS Thinkbox – where
development of high-computing solutions for the creative industry is the focus.

o We have tens of thousands of AWS customers in Canada including Athabasca University,
Bell Canada, BMO, D2L, Lululemon, , National Bank, Porter Airlines, Sun Life, TC Energy,
etc. See more at: https://aws.amazon.com/canada/.

o Both Salesforce and Workday use the AWS Canada (Central) Region for their in-country
footprint. VMware Cloud on AWS is also available in the AWS Canada (Central) Region.

The Region has also helped us move over customers who needed an in-country
presence to meet regulatory and/or compliance needs

Sustainability -
o As part of Amazon’s Climate Pledge, Amazon (including AWS) is committed to reaching
net-zero carbon emissions across its business by 2040, which is 10 years ahead of the
Paris Agreement goals. A key component of our commitment to net zero is powering
Amazon’s infrastructure with 100% renewable energy.

o The company is now on a path to achieve this milestone by 2025, five years ahead of the
initial 2030 target. In December 2020, Amazon became the world’s largest corporate
purchaser of renewable energy.

o Amazon has 232 renewable energy projects across the globe, with over 10,000 MW of
renewable capacity, and delivers more than 23 million MWh of energy annually—
enough to power the equivalent of more than 2 million Canadian homes.

o In Canada, Amazon has invested in two renewable energy projects in Alberta—an 80
megawatt (MW) solar project in the County of Newell and a 375 MW solar
farm in Vulcan, Alberta that is the largest in Canada. In total, they will bring Amazon’s
renewable energy capacity in Canada to more than 1 million megawatt hours (MWh)—
enough to power more than 100,000 Canadian homes.

o The AWS Canada (Central) Region continues the company’s focus on delivering cloud
technologies to customers in an environmentally-friendly way. AWS data centres in this
Region draw from a regional electricity grid that is almost entirely powered by hydro
power. The availability of this sustainable power source was an important factor in
choosing to build a data region in Quebec.

AWS Economic Impact Study
• In November 2021, AWS released an AWS Economic Impact Study, which provided an overview
of existing and planned AWS infrastructure investments in Canada, along with the substantial
economic benefits AWS investments create for the Canadian Economy.

• Key Findings:
o AWS plans to invest up to CA$21 billion by 2037 in both its existing Montreal Region and
in the newly announced Calgary Region. We estimate that the planned investment in
both infrastructure Regions will add CA$39 billion to the GDP of Canada and support
5,195 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in the Canadian economy.

o From 2016–2021, AWS has already invested over CA$1.4 billion in Canada, including
both capital and operating expenditures, in establishing and running the AWS Region in
Montreal. We estimate that AWS investment has added CA$1 1 billion to the GDP of
Canada and supported 687 FTE jobs.

o Of the CA$21 billion planned investment, AWS will invest up to CA$4.3 billion by 2037 in
the new AWS Region in Calgary. The investment includes both capital and operating
expenditures and in-country spending on construction labor and materials, utilities, and
so forth.

o The AWS investment in Calgary alone will support 963 FTE jobs in the Canadian
economy. These jobs include both AWS direct employment and non-AWS employment
in sectors supporting AWS infrastructure, such as telecommunications, nonresidential
construction, electricity generation, and data center personnel

AWS Workforce Development

• AWS has been committed to upskilling and reskilling people through cloud computing education
programs for many years.

• At re:Invent 2020, Amazon & AWS committed to providing free cloud computing skills training
to 29 Million people by 2025. In October 2021, AWS announced it has already trained six million
people globally.

• Since 2013, AWS has helped train more than 100,000 individuals in Canada with Cloud skills.
• AWS re/Start

o In November 2021, AWS announced we would triple the number of re/Start programs
we offer globally.

o In Canada, we launched our first program in July 2020. By early 2022, AWS will have 4 of
these programs operational across Canada.

o AWS re/Start is a 12-week, full-time, classroom-based skills development and training
program that prepares individuals for careers in the cloud, which also connects students
to potential employers.

▪ In July 2020 – AWS launched its first re/Start program with Youth Employment
Services (YES) in Toronto.

▪ October 2021, AWS, PLATO and BMO create a re/Start program for indigenous
students across Canada. One completed, students have access to a six-month
internship at BMO. Launching in early 2022

▪ November 2021, AWS and Mount Royal University teamed up with Calgary’s
Edge UP 2.0 to deliver re/Start program to unemployed and underemployed oil
and gas sector professionals in the Calgary area.

▪ December 2021 – YES works with BC Tech to scale re/Start to British Columbia.
Program is launching in early 2022.

• AWS Academy, AWS Educate, & AWS Skills Builder - Help learners of all backgrounds and
experiences prepare for careers in the Cloud. From university/college courses to full-time
training programs and digital self-paced learning content, these Education programs offer access
to the skills needed to begin a career in cloud computing.

• Cloud Innovation Centre (CIC) at the University of British Columbia.
o Launched in 2020, the CIC is part of an ongoing relationship between AWS and UBC. The
CIC (pronounced KICK) provides students, staff, and faculty access to cloud technology
to advance research projects, while employing Amazon’s innovation processes. The CIC
is the first of its kind in Canada.

o The CIC focuses on health and wellbeing issues and is officially called the UBC
Community Health and Wellbeing CIC, powered by AWS. It supports student teams
tackling real-world issues and challenges, where application of novel and emerging
technology or computing approaches are essential. Located on the university’s
Vancouver campus, teams working on projects will also have in-person support from a
Vancouver-based AWS team of cloud computing and data experts.

• AWS Canada is a sponsor of Women in Communications and Technology (WCT) supporting
women's engagement in the innovation work force in Canada. Along with participating in
mentorship programs, AWS is providing the WCT community with access to cloud computer
skills training. 4

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AWS re:Invent 2021 - AWS Canada