Meta and AWS Cloud: Future of 2022?

The metaverse is a virtual reality world where users can interact, game and experience things as they would in the real world. Using current AR and VR tech, they can immerse into this world and interact with overlaying objects and people in the visual projected in front of them.

On 30 November it revealed Nasdaq plans to begin migrating stock markets to AWS in 2022, beginning with US options exchange Nasdaq MRX, with other North American equity markets to follow.

AWS Outposts will be incorporated directly into Nasdaq’s core network to deliver low-latency edge compute capabilities from the exchange’s primary data centre in New Jersey.

Nasdaq and AWS are jointly designing an edge computing product dedicated to stock market infrastructure. The stock exchange began using AWS software more than a decade ago. Its president and CEO Adena Friedman stated the latest move is “the next major step forward in Nasdaq’s cloud journey”.

AWS’s deal with Meta Platforms, revealed a day after the Nasdaq announcement, involves optimising PyTorch, an open-source programming library for machine learning services.

The companies want to help developers build large-scale deep-learning models for natural language processing and computer vision; AWS explained. Accelerating AI research and development for Meta Platforms is a key objective of the expanded partnership, AWS stated.

Meta's highest profile bet right now is a social VR platform for the Quest headset called Horizon Worlds. It was recently featured in Meta's Super Bowl ad, and Zuckerberg called it “core to our metaverse vision” on the company's most recent earnings call. Meta uses AWS's infrastructure and capabilities to complement its existing on-premises infrastructure. Meta will now broaden its use of AWS compute, storage, databases, and security services to provide privacy, reliability, and scale in the cloud.

Meta will use AWS services and global infrastructure to scale research and development, facilitate third party collaborations, and drive operational efficiency.

Meta and AWS will jointly help enterprises use PyTorch on AWS to bring deep learning models from research into production faster and easier. (Reference: https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/meta-selects-aws-key-long-term-strategic-cloud-provider).

“Meta uses AWS’s proven infrastructure and comprehensive capabilities to complement its existing on-premises infrastructure, and will broaden its use of AWS compute, storage, databases, and security services to provide privacy, reliability, and scale in the cloud,” the companies said in a press release.