AWS Partners, AWS Marketplace, AWS Professional Services and solutions architects

Why this matters

Few companies move to AWS using only their own staff and AWS's own services. Most buy software from other vendors, hire outside firms for the hard parts of a migration, and lean on AWS's experts for design advice. Knowing who offers what saves money and time: a company that needs a migration carried out wants a firm that delivers projects, not a software product, and a company that wants to buy a firewall appliance wants AWS Marketplace, not a consultant.

For a manager, the questions are practical. Who will do this work? Is that person employed by AWS or by a third party? How will we pay, and will the cost show up where finance can see it? For a salesperson at a software company, the AWS Partner Network and AWS Marketplace are a route to AWS's customers. For a junior engineer, knowing that an AWS solutions architect can review a design, or that a licence bought in Marketplace can be shared across accounts, is often the quickest way past a blocker.

The exam tests this by describing a need and asking who meets it. The skill is sorting the options into three groups: third-party partners, the Marketplace where many of them sell, and AWS's own people.

The lesson

The AWS Partner Network (APN)

The AWS Partner Network, or APN, is AWS's global programme for companies that build products on AWS or help customers use it. A company that joins becomes an AWS Partner. Partners are third parties: they are not AWS, and they are not part of AWS's own staff.

The guide names two main kinds of partner:

• Independent software vendors (ISVs) build and sell their own software. That software might run in the customer's account, or the ISV might run it as software as a service (SaaS), where the customer simply signs in and uses it. A company that has built a SaaS product on AWS and wants to sell it to AWS customers is an ISV.
• System integrators (SIs) deliver services rather than products. They plan and carry out projects such as migrations, build custom solutions, connect AWS to existing systems and, in some cases, run workloads for the customer afterwards. A company without in-house cloud skills that wants an outside firm to move it to AWS hires a system integrator.

AWS validates partner expertise through designations, such as AWS Competencies, that a partner earns by showing customer success in a field. Customers can search AWS's partner directory on its website for a partner with the right skills, industry or location.

One point catches people out. Working with a partner does not change the shared responsibility model (lesson 6). The customer still owns the security of what it puts in the cloud, whoever it pays to help.

What AWS Partners do for customers

From a customer's side, partners fill gaps. ISVs fill product gaps: security tools, monitoring, databases, business applications and much more, often bought through AWS Marketplace. System integrators fill skills and capacity gaps: they bring people who have done this before.

AWS Marketplace is the link between the two. It is where many ISVs list their products, and system integrators can list professional services there as well. So in a scenario:

• "Buy and deploy third-party software" points to AWS Marketplace.
• "A company that sells its own software product" describes an ISV.
• "An outside firm to plan and deliver the project" describes a system integrator.

Keep these separate from the community. An expert answering on AWS re:Post (lesson 25) is helpful, but is not a partner engaged to do work.

Benefits of being an AWS Partner

The other side of the APN is what a company gains by joining. The guide names three examples:

• Partner training and certification. Partners get access to training designed for them, which helps their staff build AWS skills and earn AWS Certifications. Certified staff count towards the designations that customers look for.
• Partner events. AWS runs events for partners, where they learn about new services and plans and meet AWS teams and other partners.
• Partner volume discounts. Partners can receive discounts on AWS that grow with the volume of business they bring.

Partners can also be listed where customers look for them, in AWS's partner directory and in AWS Marketplace, and can get support from AWS to market and sell their offerings.

Be clear about what joining does not do. It does not make AWS usage free, it does not include premium support plans at no charge, and it does not waive the customer's security responsibilities.

What AWS Marketplace offers: cost management, governance and entitlement

AWS Marketplace is a curated digital catalogue where customers find, buy and deploy third-party software, data and services that run on AWS. "Curated" means AWS reviews listings before they appear, so it is not an open bazaar. Products come in several forms, including machine images that launch as EC2 instances, containers and SaaS products. Each seller sets its own pricing: some products are free, while others are paid by usage, by contract or under bring your own licence (BYOL, lesson 5), and some offer free trials. A buyer can also negotiate a private offer, with terms agreed for that customer.

Marketplace is also where you find third-party security products (lesson 11), such as firewalls and threat-detection tools.

The guide groups what Marketplace offers under three headings.

Cost management. Marketplace charges appear on the customer's AWS bill alongside its other AWS usage. That means one bill instead of a separate invoice from every vendor, and software spending can be tracked with the same billing and cost tools as everything else. In an organisation using consolidated billing (lesson 24), Marketplace purchases are part of that bill too. Most products still cost money. Marketplace changes how you pay, not whether you pay.

Governance. A private marketplace lets an administrator choose which Marketplace products the organisation's users are allowed to buy. Employees see an approved catalogue, and the company keeps control over what software comes in. Purchases remain subject to the organisation's own controls, such as who has permission to subscribe. Do not confuse this with AWS Budgets, which alerts on spending but does not restrict which products people can buy.

Entitlement. An entitlement is the right to use something you have bought, such as a licence for a set number of users. AWS License Manager tracks licences and can distribute Marketplace entitlements to the other accounts in an organisation, so a licence bought once can be used where it is needed.

Three look-alikes come up as wrong answers. AWS Service Catalog lets an organisation publish its own approved products and templates for internal use; it is not a store for buying from sellers. AWS Pricing Calculator estimates the cost of planned AWS workloads. AWS Secrets Manager stores credentials, not licences.

Technical help from AWS itself: Professional Services and solutions architects

The last group is AWS's own people. Both options here are AWS employees, which is what separates them from partners.

AWS Professional Services is AWS's global team of experts who work alongside a customer's staff to deliver outcomes such as a large migration or a complex cloud transformation. Engagements are paid, and the team often works together with AWS Partners on the same project. When a scenario wants experts employed by AWS to work with the company's own team on a big programme, the answer is Professional Services.

AWS solutions architects are AWS technical experts who advise customers on designing architectures that follow AWS best practices, such as those in the AWS Well-Architected Framework (lesson 2). They help a customer choose services and shape a design, rather than delivering a whole project. A startup that wants an AWS employee's guidance on its architecture works with a solutions architect.

These sit beside the support options in lesson 25. A technical account manager, part of AWS Enterprise Support, gives ongoing, proactive guidance on running an existing environment. A solutions architect helps with design. Professional Services delivers a programme of work. AWS Support Center handles cases when something goes wrong.

What the exam is really asking

Most scenarios turn on two questions: is the helper AWS or a third party, and does the customer need a product, a project or advice?

• Third-party product, bought on the AWS bill: AWS Marketplace, sold by an ISV.
• Third-party project delivery, such as a migration: a system integrator in the APN.
• AWS's own experts working on a large programme: AWS Professional Services.
• AWS's own expert advising on a design: an AWS solutions architect.
• Controlling which products employees can buy: a private marketplace.
• Sharing purchased licences across accounts: AWS License Manager.

If an option claims that partner membership or Marketplace makes something free, or removes the customer's security duties, it is wrong.