Episode 6 “AWS Summit Toronto 2023”
Featuring Augusto Valdivia
Kirsten Nielsen
Hello and welcome, my name is Kirsten Nielsen, and in this episode of Expanding the Possible, we're speaking with Augusto Valdivia from HH Angus' Digital Services team. Augusto is a DevOps Specialist and Accredited AWS Developer, Sysops Administrator, Big Data Specialist and Solutions Architect. He recently took part in the AWS summit in Toronto, Ontario where he presented a very popular session on DevOps Strategies. Welcome Augusto!
Augusto Valdivia
Thank you, Kirsten for having me back. It's so exciting to be here again. Thank you.
Kirsten
So you went from attending AWS's re:Invent conference for the first time in Las Vegas late last year, and now you are an AWS DevChat speaker just a few months later. That was fast. How exciting was that?
Augusto
Honestly, I still can't believe it. I get goose bumps just to think about it. It was a very fast transition for sure, like you said. It was an amazing experience.
Kirsten
Your presentation at the Toronto AWS summit was on the topic of “DevOps Strategies for Building Scalable Data Lakes with AWS IoT Core”. Now, I've seen photos of the event. It was very well attended, I was very pleased to see that. You were talking about how HH Angus uses AWS to enhance our consulting services, create real time monitoring dashboards and how we use BIM to design spaces. Tell us a little bit more about how you came to focus on those topics for the presentation.
Augusto
My focus for these presentations was to try to combine the two worlds. The engineering and consulting services that HH Angus has been providing for 100 years, a bit more than 100 years to be more precise, and yes, I said 100 years. So, for those listening here, that's a lot of experience that we have as a leading engineering company. And now the company recognizes the power of AWS as a cloud provider is enhancing our services. So, I see this opportunity as the market that we are in, which is construction and also business management. It's kind of for a market that is not overseas. And I think this opportunity was amazing for us to show that the 100 years of experience that we have in our trajectory is helping us to provide various services to our customers. So now we are providing services such as digital twins and smart building. And the satisfaction and obviously, all the time and money that we are saving to our customer, is crucial for this particular time or this area right now.
Kirsten
So, a lot of the people who will be listening to us today were not perhaps able to attend AWS, so can you tell us a little bit about the projects that you presented at the event?
Augusto
We covered the creation of real time monitoring dashboards using AWS. Providing valuable insights into building performance, we also highlighted the integration of building information, like you mentioned, the BIM to create 3-dimensional dashboard for building design. We also demonstrated the efficacy of the design with the software applications like Revit. Ultimately, our aim was to exhibit how DevOps, in this case myself, can effectively use the power of AWS and IoT to drive data for businesses and particularly, you know like I mentioned before, industries like construction and building management.
So that was the aim, because everybody keeps talking about smart building, smart cities, smart home and where the direction of technology is in this industry, but I haven't seen much or many people doing it. So, one of the feedback that we received from our presentation was that it is incredibly satisfactory to see an actual project where a company is using AWS to build something. And the feedback that I receive after, directly from people sitting listening to the presentation, was incredible. Some people are doing it already, but they are doing it in a different way. They are doing it in industrial area, whereas we are doing it in healthcare, we are doing it in commercial and geolocations. So, we're doing in many, many areas, some people are only focusing in industrial areas. So, coming to us and saying, “Wow, it is unbelievable and incredible to see how you guys are combining the two industries together. And the way you are creating these 3D dashboards, we haven't seen this in industry as of yet.” So, for us or for me, it's kind of satisfactory to think that we are pioneering this at the moment and that we are ahead of some of their competitors or other companies so it's good to hear that feedback.
Kirsten
Let me just take a sidestep here for a moment, because you mentioned 3D dashboards and I was talking to another member of your team a little while ago who also mentioned 3D dashboards. Explain to us a little bit about what the benefit is of a 3D dashboard over a 2D dashboard, for example.
Augusto
I love this question and I would love to give you this answer in a simpler way. So 3D dashboard to me is something more touchable, something that you can feel you can, you know, realize like you are actually inside this dashboard. Let's say our dashboard is based in a building which is 88 floors and we have over 40 devices across the whole building. So our customers can have this visual representation of their space from their home, but feeling like they are in the building; whereas the 2D dashboard is more like a flat picture. It doesn't have so much excitement. I'm not saying that it's bad, but it's not the same feeling as having, you know, this feeling that you can feel that you are inside that building at that moment, monitoring this specific space.
Kirsten
That sounds fascinating. It's like adding Hollywood to science.
Augusto
Yes, exactly, exactly. And I think that, you know, in the near future, we're going to be using VR, we're going to be able to touch things or pretend to be touching things. I mean, we are not that far, but that's where we are going. The 3D dashboard is fascinating to me. I am always so proud to show that this is what will be the look of this 3D dashboard.
Why is it important in your mind for HH Angus to take part in this kind of event? What are we getting out of this?
Augusto
I think it's crucial for us, you know, to participate in this type of thing just to stay up to date on the market and technology trends. Being part of such a gathering allows us to understand what's the direction where we go and where the industry moving. And moreover, they provide us with the opportunity to showcase ourselves a little bit. Also, as to what we are doing as an engineering company, because I know that HH Angus is known as an engineering company. But because the digital division or the digital is brand new, they don't know that we are doing cloud. So now they can see that we NOT only offer electrical, plumbing and system design and vertical transportation. (I love to say ‘vertical transportation’, sounds so great!) And now we can provide also cloud services and you know the industry can see that as a company we are not providing the same time services but that we are moving with the industry. We are moving with the future today.
Kirsten
And one of the ways I always like to put it is when people think, “oh, you're 100 year old company”, as you mentioned at the beginning, “maybe you're kind of set in your ways or bit staid or something.” And my answer to that is always ‘no’! You only get to be a 100+ year old company if you're constantly renewing yourself and constantly being on the leading edge of technology and embracing what's new and moving in new directions. If you don't, you don't get to be a century-old company.
Augusto
Exactly. That's 100% true. I think that the company has done an amazing job. I have been with the company for only two years but I have seen things in this company that I haven't seen in other companies - the way the company supports the employees to, you know, improve. In their learning and grow in their careers is unbelievable. So that makes a lot of sense. That's why you said 100 years, it's because the company keep moving forward, changing, changing, changing, changing.
Kirsten
You're a good brand ambassador for HH Angus and you also were at this event as a kind of a brand ambassador as well. Did you have the opportunity to network with people from other digital services companies while you were there?
Augusto
Yes, yes, we had the opportunity to talk with a lot of companies that are also partners with AWS. And they brought a lot of conversations and possible partnerships with other companies. So yeah, definitely it was a very, very great opportunity for us to speak with other companies and obviously they get to know because we are small compared to the companies that were there.
Kirsten
Tell us who the big fish are, because I don't think of HH Angus as a small company, but I know compared to some of the companies you were referring to. So give us an idea of who those were.
Augusto
We had for example, Datadog. Datadog is a huge international company based in the US, but has a lot of branches all over the world. Thousands and thousands of employees, Deloitte was also there. So which is another international consulting company. So being at that level with them it’s great to see that we are in the same fish tank with the big fish.
Kirsten
What did you learn from the whole experience making this presentation?
Augusto
I learned that it is hard to present in front of 150 people I'm gonna give a big shout out to my digital team that was there and now with me, helping me in the preparation. So, I learned that HH Angus is a team player. We work together and this is how we are succeeding. And on the professional level, I learned that we have a big chance with what we are doing, what we are working on at the moment and I see us reaching higher levels and getting more and more and more clients in the near future.
Kirsten
That's great. Well, it's a great opportunity and a good chance to substantiate our experience. Did you get a chance to go around and see any of the other DevOps chats and did any of them stand out for you?
Augusto
Yes, I did. One of the booths that we saw stood out and their presentation was similar to what we are doing, which is an IoT and big data collection using solar panels for smart cities. And it was interesting to see that, we are not that far from the infrastructure creation. The development is very similar to what we are doing and I would say that even though it's AWS who were presenting this, I would say that the way we are developing our infrastructure is better. I think it's better because even asking them questions such as “how come you are using these types of IoT devices?” and “have you experience with other IoT devices?.” And they are homemade hardware that they are building. And whereas us, we have the experience of testing over 25 different devices in the market and get to the point to know which one are the ones that actually work for the specific cases, so happy to be in the team that is leading this industry of IoT at the moment.
Kirsten
You were mentioning to me previously about carbon reduction as well and how you were applying some solutions to that. Is that something you can talk about?
Augusto
Certainly, so we had the opportunity to engage with other engineering teams. Among questions we raised was “what's the possibility of using AWS services to reduce carbon footprint?”. And AWS itself has this huge campaign that they said that by 2025 they will reduce 35% of the carbon footprint globally, and right now they are helping startup companies or companies in general, to use their services to follow this approach and you know that our company, we believe in environmental sustainability. So, there is maybe an opportunity for us to create something. We are working on something big and related to energy sustainability for our customers, and for the world, and for the environment in general. So I'm happy to see that AWS is also thinking about this responsibly.
Kirsten
Well, we're going to have to have you back to talk about that another time.
Augusto
For sure.
Kirsten
Congratulations, Augusto on a very successful DevChat session. The feedback comments online have been outstanding, so you must feel very gratified about that. And thank you for providing us with an insider view of the AWS Summit Toronto event. The whole subject of AWS solutions helping our clients to collect and analyze real time data and improve their buildings performance is a very broad and fascinating topic, and I know we'll be talking to you about that.
Our guest today has been Augusto Valdivia, DevOps specialist in HH Angus’s Digital Services group. To our listeners, thank you for joining us today, and stay tuned for more episodes of Expanding the Possible coming soon.
Hello and welcome, my name is Kirsten Nielsen, and in this episode of Expanding the Possible, we're speaking with Augusto Valdivia from HH Angus' Digital Services team. Augusto is a DevOps Specialist and Accredited AWS Developer, Sysops Administrator, Big Data Specialist and Solutions Architect. He recently took part in the AWS summit in Toronto, Ontario where he presented a very popular session on DevOps Strategies. Welcome Augusto!
Augusto Valdivia
Thank you, Kirsten for having me back. It's so exciting to be here again. Thank you.
Kirsten
So you went from attending AWS's re:Invent conference for the first time in Las Vegas late last year, and now you are an AWS DevChat speaker just a few months later. That was fast. How exciting was that?
Augusto
Honestly, I still can't believe it. I get goose bumps just to think about it. It was a very fast transition for sure, like you said. It was an amazing experience.
Kirsten
Your presentation at the Toronto AWS summit was on the topic of “DevOps Strategies for Building Scalable Data Lakes with AWS IoT Core”. Now, I've seen photos of the event. It was very well attended, I was very pleased to see that. You were talking about how HH Angus uses AWS to enhance our consulting services, create real time monitoring dashboards and how we use BIM to design spaces. Tell us a little bit more about how you came to focus on those topics for the presentation.
Augusto
My focus for these presentations was to try to combine the two worlds. The engineering and consulting services that HH Angus has been providing for 100 years, a bit more than 100 years to be more precise, and yes, I said 100 years. So, for those listening here, that's a lot of experience that we have as a leading engineering company. And now the company recognizes the power of AWS as a cloud provider is enhancing our services. So, I see this opportunity as the market that we are in, which is construction and also business management. It's kind of for a market that is not overseas. And I think this opportunity was amazing for us to show that the 100 years of experience that we have in our trajectory is helping us to provide various services to our customers. So now we are providing services such as digital twins and smart building. And the satisfaction and obviously, all the time and money that we are saving to our customer, is crucial for this particular time or this area right now.
Kirsten
So, a lot of the people who will be listening to us today were not perhaps able to attend AWS, so can you tell us a little bit about the projects that you presented at the event?
Augusto
We covered the creation of real time monitoring dashboards using AWS. Providing valuable insights into building performance, we also highlighted the integration of building information, like you mentioned, the BIM to create 3-dimensional dashboard for building design. We also demonstrated the efficacy of the design with the software applications like Revit. Ultimately, our aim was to exhibit how DevOps, in this case myself, can effectively use the power of AWS and IoT to drive data for businesses and particularly, you know like I mentioned before, industries like construction and building management.
So that was the aim, because everybody keeps talking about smart building, smart cities, smart home and where the direction of technology is in this industry, but I haven't seen much or many people doing it. So, one of the feedback that we received from our presentation was that it is incredibly satisfactory to see an actual project where a company is using AWS to build something. And the feedback that I receive after, directly from people sitting listening to the presentation, was incredible. Some people are doing it already, but they are doing it in a different way. They are doing it in industrial area, whereas we are doing it in healthcare, we are doing it in commercial and geolocations. So, we're doing in many, many areas, some people are only focusing in industrial areas. So, coming to us and saying, “Wow, it is unbelievable and incredible to see how you guys are combining the two industries together. And the way you are creating these 3D dashboards, we haven't seen this in industry as of yet.” So, for us or for me, it's kind of satisfactory to think that we are pioneering this at the moment and that we are ahead of some of their competitors or other companies so it's good to hear that feedback.
Kirsten
Let me just take a sidestep here for a moment, because you mentioned 3D dashboards and I was talking to another member of your team a little while ago who also mentioned 3D dashboards. Explain to us a little bit about what the benefit is of a 3D dashboard over a 2D dashboard, for example.
Augusto
I love this question and I would love to give you this answer in a simpler way. So 3D dashboard to me is something more touchable, something that you can feel you can, you know, realize like you are actually inside this dashboard. Let's say our dashboard is based in a building which is 88 floors and we have over 40 devices across the whole building. So our customers can have this visual representation of their space from their home, but feeling like they are in the building; whereas the 2D dashboard is more like a flat picture. It doesn't have so much excitement. I'm not saying that it's bad, but it's not the same feeling as having, you know, this feeling that you can feel that you are inside that building at that moment, monitoring this specific space.
Kirsten
That sounds fascinating. It's like adding Hollywood to science.
Augusto
Yes, exactly, exactly. And I think that, you know, in the near future, we're going to be using VR, we're going to be able to touch things or pretend to be touching things. I mean, we are not that far, but that's where we are going. The 3D dashboard is fascinating to me. I am always so proud to show that this is what will be the look of this 3D dashboard.
Why is it important in your mind for HH Angus to take part in this kind of event? What are we getting out of this?
Augusto
I think it's crucial for us, you know, to participate in this type of thing just to stay up to date on the market and technology trends. Being part of such a gathering allows us to understand what's the direction where we go and where the industry moving. And moreover, they provide us with the opportunity to showcase ourselves a little bit. Also, as to what we are doing as an engineering company, because I know that HH Angus is known as an engineering company. But because the digital division or the digital is brand new, they don't know that we are doing cloud. So now they can see that we NOT only offer electrical, plumbing and system design and vertical transportation. (I love to say ‘vertical transportation’, sounds so great!) And now we can provide also cloud services and you know the industry can see that as a company we are not providing the same time services but that we are moving with the industry. We are moving with the future today.
Kirsten
And one of the ways I always like to put it is when people think, “oh, you're 100 year old company”, as you mentioned at the beginning, “maybe you're kind of set in your ways or bit staid or something.” And my answer to that is always ‘no’! You only get to be a 100+ year old company if you're constantly renewing yourself and constantly being on the leading edge of technology and embracing what's new and moving in new directions. If you don't, you don't get to be a century-old company.
Augusto
Exactly. That's 100% true. I think that the company has done an amazing job. I have been with the company for only two years but I have seen things in this company that I haven't seen in other companies - the way the company supports the employees to, you know, improve. In their learning and grow in their careers is unbelievable. So that makes a lot of sense. That's why you said 100 years, it's because the company keep moving forward, changing, changing, changing, changing.
Kirsten
You're a good brand ambassador for HH Angus and you also were at this event as a kind of a brand ambassador as well. Did you have the opportunity to network with people from other digital services companies while you were there?
Augusto
Yes, yes, we had the opportunity to talk with a lot of companies that are also partners with AWS. And they brought a lot of conversations and possible partnerships with other companies. So yeah, definitely it was a very, very great opportunity for us to speak with other companies and obviously they get to know because we are small compared to the companies that were there.
Kirsten
Tell us who the big fish are, because I don't think of HH Angus as a small company, but I know compared to some of the companies you were referring to. So give us an idea of who those were.
Augusto
We had for example, Datadog. Datadog is a huge international company based in the US, but has a lot of branches all over the world. Thousands and thousands of employees, Deloitte was also there. So which is another international consulting company. So being at that level with them it’s great to see that we are in the same fish tank with the big fish.
Kirsten
What did you learn from the whole experience making this presentation?
Augusto
I learned that it is hard to present in front of 150 people I'm gonna give a big shout out to my digital team that was there and now with me, helping me in the preparation. So, I learned that HH Angus is a team player. We work together and this is how we are succeeding. And on the professional level, I learned that we have a big chance with what we are doing, what we are working on at the moment and I see us reaching higher levels and getting more and more and more clients in the near future.
Kirsten
That's great. Well, it's a great opportunity and a good chance to substantiate our experience. Did you get a chance to go around and see any of the other DevOps chats and did any of them stand out for you?
Augusto
Yes, I did. One of the booths that we saw stood out and their presentation was similar to what we are doing, which is an IoT and big data collection using solar panels for smart cities. And it was interesting to see that, we are not that far from the infrastructure creation. The development is very similar to what we are doing and I would say that even though it's AWS who were presenting this, I would say that the way we are developing our infrastructure is better. I think it's better because even asking them questions such as “how come you are using these types of IoT devices?” and “have you experience with other IoT devices?.” And they are homemade hardware that they are building. And whereas us, we have the experience of testing over 25 different devices in the market and get to the point to know which one are the ones that actually work for the specific cases, so happy to be in the team that is leading this industry of IoT at the moment.
Kirsten
You were mentioning to me previously about carbon reduction as well and how you were applying some solutions to that. Is that something you can talk about?
Augusto
Certainly, so we had the opportunity to engage with other engineering teams. Among questions we raised was “what's the possibility of using AWS services to reduce carbon footprint?”. And AWS itself has this huge campaign that they said that by 2025 they will reduce 35% of the carbon footprint globally, and right now they are helping startup companies or companies in general, to use their services to follow this approach and you know that our company, we believe in environmental sustainability. So, there is maybe an opportunity for us to create something. We are working on something big and related to energy sustainability for our customers, and for the world, and for the environment in general. So I'm happy to see that AWS is also thinking about this responsibly.
Kirsten
Well, we're going to have to have you back to talk about that another time.
Augusto
For sure.
Kirsten
Congratulations, Augusto on a very successful DevChat session. The feedback comments online have been outstanding, so you must feel very gratified about that. And thank you for providing us with an insider view of the AWS Summit Toronto event. The whole subject of AWS solutions helping our clients to collect and analyze real time data and improve their buildings performance is a very broad and fascinating topic, and I know we'll be talking to you about that.
Our guest today has been Augusto Valdivia, DevOps specialist in HH Angus’s Digital Services group. To our listeners, thank you for joining us today, and stay tuned for more episodes of Expanding the Possible coming soon.