re:Invent 2016 – IoT and Financial Competencies Visit AWS Partners Amazon Web Services (AWS), this week announced two new competencies in its AWS Partner Network. The company announced the new AWS Financial Services and AWS IoT competencies during Tuesday’s Global Partner Summit in Las Vegas. This event marks the start of the AWS reInvent conference for this year. In a blog post, Kate Miller, senior content manager at the APN, stated that the AWS IoT Competency showcases AWS Consulting and Technology Partners who have proven technology and/or implementation abilities for a variety use cases, including smart factories, smart cities and energy. Partners who are eligible for the IoT Competency will receive marketing materials and branding materials, a “AWS IoT Competency Partner” designation in the AWS Partner Solutions Finder directory (also released Tuesday), and “preferred access” to funding for market development. AWS may also include them in promotional materials and events. There are four types of partners in the IoT Competency.

• Edge: Miller identifies these partners as “who provide hardware or software ingredients to build IoT devices or products for IoT applications or solutions.”
• Gateway: “Partners that provide data aggregation hardware or software connecting edge devices with the cloud and providing intelligence on premise as well as connecting enterprise information technology (‘IT) systems.”
• Platform Providers: “ISVs that have developed a cloud-based platform for IoT data acquisition, analysis, and action.”
• Connectivity: “Partners that provide systems to manage wide area connectivity for edge devices and gateway devices.”

Miller stated in a separate post that the Financial Services Competency was also launched Tuesday. It is designed to help customers connect with industry-leading Consulting and Technology APN Partners, providing solutions for banking and payments, capital market, and insurance. The Financial Services Competency benefits are similar to the IoT Competency and include branding and marketing materials as well as access to market development funding and inclusion in promotional materials. The following categories are available to partners who achieve the Financial Services Competency:

• Miller identifies partners that offer solutions to help financial institutions “identify, model, assess and assess risk, ensure monitoring [and] comply with the industry regulations or help in surveillance, fraud monitoring.”
• Core Systems: Partners that develop “transaction processing systems for banking/mortgage/payments, capital markets/brokerage/asset management, or the property [and] casualty insurance industry.”
• Data Management: Partners who develop “platforms that provide market and reference data, data processing or pricing or financial analytics solutions.”

Partners must provide customer references and pass an audit by a third party to be eligible for either the IoT Competency (or the Financial Services Competency). For more information about the IoT Competency and the Financial Services Competency, click here. More information at re:Invent 2016.

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