My '25 AWS London Summit Experience

The AWS Summit at ExCeL London marked my fifth in-person tech event this year, and my first AWS Summit ever. This conference was a bold reminder that “You don’t have to build everything. But you can build anything.” From the moment the keynote opened with the question “What if you can build anything?”, the entire day became a living response to that challenge. It was more than a theme, it was a mindset. One that wove itself through every session, product update, hallway conversation, and hands-on lab.

Key updates

This year, AWS didn’t just introduce new features, it reflects a shift in how AWS is thinking, and encouraging others to think about infrastructure, data, and AI at scale. AWS is leaning harder into usability, responsibility, and clarity. It also seems to be moving from tools-first to people-first. Here are some of the announcements made:

1. Hybrid Reality with AWS Outposts and EC2: Running EC2 in your own data center using Outposts isn’t new, but the way it was positioned felt more grounded. It's no longer just an idea for edge cases, AWS is making hybrid a real option. It means companies don’t have to choose between cloud-native and on-prem. They can design for both. That’s a quiet revolution and a thoughtful architecture for industries that can’t go all-in on the cloud overnight.

2. AI Tools for Builders: AWS is clearly investing more into AI infrastructure that’s actually usable. The Trn1/Trn2 chips, SageMaker Lakehouse, and Bedrock are about giving builders the tools they need to train, fine-tune, and deploy AI responsibly. EC2 Capacity Blocks for GenAI are especially timely. You can spin up compute for training and shut it down when done, great for cost control and focus.

3. Amazon Q and Responsible AI: Amazon Q took a lot of attention, and for good reason. It now bakes governance, safety, and control into the foundation. That’s a big deal. The AI gold rush needs brakes as much as it needs gas, and AWS is giving teams both.

4. S3 evolves: S3 is no longer just object storage. With new features like SQL-like querying and better metadata support, it’s starting to behave more like a lightweight data warehouse. This makes working with data lakes easier, especially for teams that don’t want to set up an entire data stack from scratch.

Stories that stick

What truly brought everything to life were the real-world stories.

Iceland Foods is using AWS Personalize to deliver hyper-relevant customer interactions, like live emails and real-time order edits just before delivery. They shared how they’re improving customer experience through personalised recommendations and giving users the option to edit orders just before delivery. A quiet reminder that personalisation isn’t a layer, it’s a design choice. The architecture behind it was impressive. Charlie Coleman (AWS), Damian Janik (Iceland) and Ben Ford (Iceland) shared the details well.

NatWest showed what it means to scale responsibly. Shared how they’ve adapted to how customers want to receive services, with over 16 million logins, 5 million payments, and zero downtime deployments. They’re using AI to fight fraud (which is the number one crime in the UK), reduce customer wait times, and personalize services through Amazon Connect and SageMaker.

Rahul Godara from Datadog gave a talk on cloud migration. With practical examples, and real use cases.

Other sessions I found valuable included GitHub Actions on AWS and Industry Quest - Healthcare. I missed the one on VMware Acceleration by Olushola Oladipupo, Martyn Storey on VMware migration, and Modernizing Legacy Code with Amazon Q by Prasad Rao. but I’ve heard they were all solid. I’d be catching up on some of the recordings and you can as well here.

What I loved most

• The Jam session: It was electric. Hands-on, fast-paced, and engaging. I could’ve stayed there all day. There’s something special about learning by doing, especially when surrounded by people just as curious as you are.

I also made time to connect with people. I met Czarina from the AWS Community Builders booth, had great chats with folks at vendor booths, and even squeezed in a few games. There’s something grounding about these moments, they remind you that behind every dashboard and API is a person trying to build something that works.

If You’re Attending Your First AWS Summit…

Ten hours fly by. There’s too much to do. But here’s how I made the most of it, and what I’d pass on to anyone attending their first AWS Summit:

1. Plan ahead, but stay flexible: Use the AWS Events app to mark your sessions in advance, but leave space for spontaneity. Sometimes the best learning happens off-track.

2. Arrive early: Registration is smooth, but queues grow fast. Get in early to settle, grab coffee, and map your first hour without the rush.

3. Prioritize what matters to you: There are dozens of sessions, but not all will align with your current goals. Pick talks that fuel your learning or projects. Skip the rest without guilt.

4. Talk to people anywhere: Even in the queue. Everyone’s there to learn. Some of my best conversations started while waiting for coffee or standing at a booth. A simple “What’s your name and where do you work/which work do you do?” goes a long way.

5. Don’t overlook the booths: They are equal to Knowledge not just Swag. The vendor and AWS booths are full of engineers and architects who actually build this stuff. Ask the deep questions. They’ll answer.

6. Take breaks: Perhaps the most important. The energy can be overwhelming. Pause. Recharge. You’ll enjoy it more, absorb more, and last the day.

So, What’s the Big Picture?

The announcements this year weren’t just about features, they pointed to a shift in mindset:

• Hybrid doesn’t have to mean compromise.

• AI doesn’t need to be loud, it needs to work.

• Data lakes should serve, not just store.

• Responsible AI should be the default, not an afterthought.

AWS gave us better questions to ask. They challenged us to think not just about what we’re building, but why. Not chasing trends but about choosing the right foundations, and building with care.

That’s what I’m taking forward.

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So, here’s to building…

Start small.
Stay curious.
Keep going.

Till next time,

Love & Cloud,

Babsbarokah.