Introducing AWS Managed Services

This is a guest post from Forest Johns, Principal Product Manager at AWS.

Today we are launching an operations management service called AWS Managed Services, as announced in Jeff Barr’s AWS Blog. Designed and built based on requests and feedback from some of our largest Enterprises, AWS Managed Services (AWS MS) provides customers with an alternative to in-house and outsource data center operations management.

What is AWS MS?

AWS MS follows IT Service management best practices, and standard features include patch management, backup, monitoring, security, and operational process for incident, change, and problem management. At launch, the service supports 23 AWS services, and is available in four AWS Regions including US East (Northern Virginia), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Sydney), and EU (Ireland). AWS MS provides prescriptive guidance for data center deployment in the AWS Cloud at scale, and provides standard APIs, stack templates, and automation for common operations.

What’s the Distinction Between AWS MS and the AWS Managed Services Program?

AWS Managed Services is not to be confused with the AWS Managed Services Program, which thoroughly vets an APN Partner’s own managed services offerings and next-generation cloud managed services capabilities. AWS MSP Partners undergo a rigorous validation audit of over 80 checks that includes capabilities around application migration, DevOps, CI/CD, security, as well as cloud and application management. They also have many years of experience in providing full lifecycle migration, integration, cloud management, application management and application development. In addition to targeting Enterprises, the AWS MS offering was also built to enable AWS Managed Service Providers to augment or replace their existing AWS infrastructure management capabilities, allowing them to focus on migration and application management work for their clients.

What’s the Role of AWS Consulting Partners in AWS MS?

APN Partners were key in the development of this service, and play an active role in the deployment and use of AWS MS. Having a standard operating environment not only fast tracks customer onboarding, but creates many different opportunities for APN Partners to enable and add value for AWS MS customers. In the coming weeks, we will also be launching a new AWS Managed Services designation as part of the AWS Services Delivery Program for APN Partners (stay tuned to the APN Blog for more information to come).

Key to the integration and deployment of AWS MS, AWS Consulting Partners enable Enterprises to migrate their existing applications to AWS and integrate their on-premises management tools with their cloud deployments. Consulting Partners will also be instrumental in building and managing cloud-based applications for customers running on the infrastructure stacks managed by AWS MS. Onboarding to AWS MS typically requires 8-10 weeks of design/strategy, system/process integration, and initial app migration, all of which can be performed by qualified AWS Consulting Partners. In order to participate, APN Partners will need to complete either the AWS Managed Service Provider Program validation process, and/or earn the Migration or DevOps Competency, as well as complete the specialized AWS MS partner training.

Learn More

We invite APN Partners who are interested in becoming involved in offering the AWS Managed Services to email us at aws-managed-services-inquiries@amazon.com.