Presenter: Nikiforos Botis, Solutions Architect, AWS
Date: 24 November 2021

The term cloud computing firstly appeared in 1996 but it wasn't until 2006 when the first service was made available that was capable of giving access to remote virtual machines -via the internet- that could perform computations without needing to procure a physical server. Things have evolved significantly since then and many Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) have emerged, allowing organizations of all sizes and types, including academic institutions, to leverage the cloud for powering their IT workloads. In this talk, we will be exploring some of the offerings of AWS, the cloud services arm of Amazon, that could be of interest to researchers, especially around the areas of Serverless computing and Machine Learning.

Nikiforos is a Solutions Architect at the AWS Greek branch, focusing on public sector customers. He has been lucky to have had the chance to contribute to the architecture of both PLF & Vaccination platforms that were launched during the pandemic to keep the country safe and the economy going. Prior to that, he spent four years in London the majority of which at the AWS UK branch which he joined as a graduate after completing his MSc Computer Science at Imperial College London. Nikiforos is a proud graduate of DMST AUEB (BSc), through which he had the chance to participate in multiple entrepreneurial and other extracurricular activities, including a semester abroad (UCL, London).