Matteo Gabrielli, Senior Technical Solutions Architect, Continent 8 Technologies
AWS re:Invent 2024 showcased a clear direction: hybrid cloud is not just a trend, it’s the reality for many enterprises. Here’s what we learned…
AWS re:Invent 2024 demonstrated a significant evolution in hybrid cloud capabilities. I was particularly impressed by AWS’ commitment to simplifying complex operational challenges while maintaining flexibility in deployment options. The technical sessions focusing on hybrid architectures were especially relevant to Continent 8’s mission of enabling customer success through optimised infrastructure solutions. A key theme emerged around designing evolvable systems that can adapt to changing requirements while minimising operational overhead – a philosophy that aligns perfectly with how we approach solution architecture for our customers.
Several key product announcements underscored AWS’ commitment to hybrid cloud. EKS Hybrid Nodes (EKS-H) represent a significant step forward. As an early access partner, Continent 8 sees immense potential in this solution, which enables consistent Kubernetes operations across cloud and on-premises environments while leveraging AWS’ managed control plane. This simplifies management and ensures consistency.
The announcement also included important networking enhancements for hybrid connectivity, including improvements to AWS Cloud WAN and VPC capabilities. We also saw significant progress in AWS’ effort to unify and simplify their data, analytics and machine learning platforms, building upon S3 as the foundation. This reflects a broader trend toward simplified, integrated operational experiences – a principle we consistently apply in our hybrid architecture designs.
Two overarching themes dominated this year’s re:Invent, highlighting the evolving needs of modern businesses.
Dr. Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, introduced the concept of ‘simplexity’, which resonated deeply. It emphasises the need to manage inherent system complexity while maintaining operational simplicity. This balance is crucial for organisations seeking both innovation and efficiency.
The need for evolvability was also a key theme. Building systems that can adapt and scale over time is paramount. This means embracing flexibility, modularity and decentralised architectures to accommodate future changes and growth. Organisations face several key challenges when considering hybrid deployments. These include meeting specific regulatory requirements and ensuring data resides in the appropriate location; balancing investments across on-premises and cloud environments to maximise efficiency and cost-effectiveness; and maintaining consistent operations, security and management across different infrastructures.
At Continent 8, we recognise that while AWS Outposts is excellent for extending the AWS ecosystem and operational consistency to new markets, it isn’t always the best fit. Outposts provides a fully managed AWS experience on-premises, but it can be costly, especially for non ‘top-tier’ customers or those with limited edge resource needs. The expense becomes particularly significant when designing for disaster recovery, which often requires multiple Outposts per jurisdiction.
That’s why we’re helping customers explore cost-effective alternatives to Outposts. By leveraging tools like EKS-H, S3-compatible storage on-premises and other components for networking and compute, we can build tailored solutions that deliver similar functionality and operational consistency without the full Outposts overhead. This approach is particularly beneficial for customers who find Outposts over-sized or cost prohibitive for their needs. At Continent 8, our priority is to find the optimal solution for each customer, enabling and accelerating their success by providing expert guidance and support in navigating the complexities of hybrid cloud.
Ready to modernise your sports betting and gaming infrastructure while maintaining regulatory compliance? As a member of the AWS Solutions Provider Program (SPP), we can help you architect, deploy and optimise your hybrid Kubernetes environment. Contact your Regional Sales Director or our team at sales@continent8.com to begin your journey with us.
Learn more about our AWS solutions here.
Matteo Gabrielli, Senior Technical Solutions Architect, Continent 8 Technologies
At AWS re:Invent 2024, Amazon Web Services announced Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes (EKS-H), and Continent 8 Technologies is proud to be a strategic launch partner for this new feature. As a trusted infrastructure provider in the betting and gaming industry, we enable customers to extend their EKS clusters to Continent 8’s on-premises infrastructure. This solution addresses a critical need in the betting and gaming industry: extending Kubernetes clusters to meet regulatory requirements with minimal operational overhead. By running EKS-H on Continent 8’s infrastructure, customers can efficiently deploy workloads in regulated jurisdictions while maintaining the simplicity of AWS-managed services as EKS.
EKS-H allows customers to use on-premises servers as worker nodes in their EKS clusters located in-region. While AWS continues to manage the control plane, workloads can run on Continent 8’s infrastructure in specific jurisdictions where data sovereignty and gaming regulations require local presence.
Gaming operators and suppliers face unique challenges:
EKS-H on Continent 8’s infrastructure solves these challenges by providing:
Our infrastructure is uniquely positioned to support EKS-H:
Continent 8 provides a seamless path to implementing EKS-H. Our team can help:
Ready to modernise your betting and gaming infrastructure while maintaining regulatory compliance? As an AWS Advanced Partner and member of the AWS Solutions Provider Program (SPP), we can help you architect, deploy and optimise your hybrid Kubernetes environment. Contact our sales team at sales@continent8.com to begin your journey with us.
The impact of Amazon EKS Hybrid Nodes is already resonating within the industry, particularly among our current customers. Games Global, a long-standing Continent 8 partner, has been at the forefront of infrastructure innovation within the gaming sector. Matthew Harris, their Principal Architect, explains how this solution addresses key industry challenges:
“Online gambling companies not only have to protect customer data and ensure security like everyone else, but they also face tough regulations from gaming authorities worldwide. These rules often dictate where we can host our gaming systems, which can limit or even rule out using public cloud services in some markets. EKS Hybrid Nodes let us meet these requirements by hosting workloads where needed while still taking advantage of AWS EKS’s easy management. Partnering with experts like Continent 8, who really know our industry inside and out, makes this option even more appealing.”
– Matthew Harris, Principal Architect at Games Global