Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Extending ThousandEyes Visibility to the AWS Network (NET102)

Summary

• Mike Hicks, principal solutions analyst at ThousandEyes, discusses the importance of understanding internet health and performance, particularly in a world where applications, people, and infrastructure are distributed.
• The talk emphasizes the necessity of optimal digital experience, which is critical for employee productivity and satisfaction.
• Hicks explains the performance journey, starting from ensuring business continuity to competing in the experience economy, protecting digital investments, and continuous improvement.
• The internet underpins all digital experiences, and its complexity has increased with multiple dependencies and protocols.
• ThousandEyes has introduced AWS network path enrichment to provide visibility into the AWS network, which is crucial for understanding and optimizing geographic routing and performance issues.
• The service allows users to see the path their data takes within the AWS network, including nodes, regions, and services like EC2, CloudFront, Route 53, and Global Accelerator.
• This visibility is essential for data sovereignty, performance optimization, and troubleshooting.
• Hicks concludes by highlighting the importance of network assurance, contiguous visibility, and data-driven conversations for a seamless user experience.
• ThousandEyes offers resources like an outage map, a blog, and a podcast to help users stay informed about internet health.

Insights

• The distributed nature of modern applications and infrastructure necessitates a more sophisticated approach to network monitoring and performance optimization.
• Digital experience is a critical factor in user satisfaction and can influence employee retention and customer loyalty.
• The complexity of the internet and cloud services requires tools that can provide end-to-end visibility to ensure performance and compliance with data sovereignty laws.
• ThousandEyes' AWS network path enrichment is a significant development for AWS customers, as it offers granular visibility into the AWS network, which was previously limited.
• The ability to export data in a common format like JSON facilitates collaboration with AWS to resolve performance issues, underscoring the importance of interoperability and data sharing in cloud services.
• The talk suggests a trend towards continuous improvement and optimization in cloud services, with a focus on microsecond improvements that can have a substantial impact on the bottom line for businesses.
• The resources provided by ThousandEyes, such as the outage map and blog, indicate a growing industry focus on transparency and proactive communication regarding network health and incidents.