Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/connect-dynamic-dialing-modes/

Today, AWS announces the general availability of dynamic dialing mode switching for Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns, which allows contact center administrators to change between preview and non-preview dialing modes during active campaign execution. Previously, campaigns were locked into their initial dialing mode once started, requiring administrators to stop and restart campaigns to adjust strategies. This launch solves the problem of inflexible dialing strategies that couldn't adapt to real-time business needs and agent availability changes.

Dynamic dialing mode switching enables contact centers to optimize agent productivity and campaign efficiency in real-time without campaign interruptions. For example, you can automatically switch from progressive dialing to preview mode when handling high-priority contacts that require additional context, then revert back when traffic returns to normal patterns. This flexibility is particularly valuable for campaigns with varying contact priorities or fluctuating agent availability throughout the day.

Dynamic dialing mode switching is available at no additional cost in all AWS Regions where Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns is supported: US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Canada (Central), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (London), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), and Africa (Cape Town).

To learn more, see the Amazon Connect Administrator Guide or visit the Amazon Connect website. 

Published: 2026-02-26 19:32:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-ec2-m8i-m8i-flex-instances-africa-cape-town-regions/

Starting today, Amazon EC2 M8i and M8i-flex instances are now available in Africa (Cape Town) region. These instances are powered by custom Intel Xeon 6 processors, available only on AWS, delivering the highest performance and fastest memory bandwidth among comparable Intel processors in the cloud. The M8i and M8i-flex instances offer up to 15% better price-performance, and 2.5x more memory bandwidth compared to previous generation Intel-based instances. They deliver up to 20% better performance than M7i and M7i-flex instances, with even higher gains for specific workloads. The M8i and M8i-flex instances are up to 30% faster for PostgreSQL databases, up to 60% faster for NGINX web applications, and up to 40% faster for AI deep learning recommendation models compared to M7i and M7i-flex instances.

M8i-flex are the easiest way to get price performance benefits for a majority of general-purpose workloads like web and application servers, microservices, small and medium data stores, virtual desktops, and enterprise applications. They offer the most common sizes, from large to 16xlarge, and are a great first choice for applications that don't fully utilize all compute resources.

M8i instances are a great choice for all general purpose workloads, especially for workloads that need the largest instance sizes or continuous high CPU usage. The SAP-certified M8i instances offer 13 sizes including 2 bare metal sizes and the new 96xlarge size for the largest applications.

To get started, sign in to the AWS Management Console. For more information about the new instances, visit the M8i and M8i-flex page or visit the AWS News blog.

Published: 2026-02-25 17:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-ec2-c7i-c7i-flex-instances-africa-cape-town-regions/

Starting today, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) C7i-flex and C7i instances are available in the Africa (Cape Town) region. These instances are powered by powered by custom 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors (code-named Sapphire Rapids) custom processors, available only on AWS, and offer up to 15% better performance over comparable x86-based Intel processors utilized by other cloud providers.

C7i-flex instances expand the EC2 Flex instances portfolio to provide the easiest way for you to get price performance benefits for a majority of compute intensive workloads, and deliver up to 19% better price-performance compared to C6i. C7i-flex instances offer the most common sizes, from large to 16xlarge, and are a great first choice for applications that don't fully utilize all compute resources. With C7i-flex instances, you can seamlessly run web and application servers, databases, caches, Apache Kafka, and Elasticsearch, and more.

C7i instances deliver up to 15% better price-performance versus C6i instances and are a great choice for all compute-intensive workloads, such as batch processing, distributed analytics, ad serving, and video encoding. C7i instances offer larger instance sizes, up to 48xlarge, and two bare metal sizes (metal-24xl, metal-48xl). These bare-metal sizes support built-in Intel accelerators: Data Streaming Accelerator, In-Memory Analytics Accelerator, and QuickAssist Technology that are used to facilitate efficient offload and acceleration of data operations and optimize performance for workloads.

To learn more, visit Amazon EC2 C7i Instances. To get started, see the AWS Management Console.

Published: 2026-02-24 17:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-ec-i-ie-instances-available-aws-africa/

AWS is announcing Amazon EC2 I7ie instances are now available in AWS Africa (Cape Town) region. Designed for large storage I/O intensive workloads, I7ie instances are powered by 5th Gen Intel Xeon Processors with an all-core turbo frequency of 3.2 GHz, offering up to 40% better compute performance and 20% better price performance over existing I3en instances. I7ie instances offer up to 120TB local NVMe storage density for storage optimized instances and offer up to twice as many vCPUs and memory compared to prior generation instances. Powered by 3rd generation AWS Nitro SSDs, I7ie instances deliver up to 65% better real-time storage performance, up to 50% lower storage I/O latency, and 65% lower storage I/O latency variability compared to I3en instances.

I7ie are high density storage optimized instances, ideal for workloads requiring fast local storage with high random read/write performance at very low latency consistency to access large data sets. These instances are available in 9 different virtual sizes and deliver up to 100Gbps of network bandwidth and 60Gbps of bandwidth for Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS).

To learn more, visit the I7ie instances page.

Published: 2026-02-24 16:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-ec2-m7i-africa-cape-town-regions/

Starting today, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) M7i instances powered by custom 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors (code-named Sapphire Rapids) are available in the Africa (Cape Town) region. These custom processors, available only on AWS, offer up to 15% better performance over comparable x86-based Intel processors utilized by other cloud providers.

M7i deliver up to 15% better price-performance compared to M6i. M7i instances are a great choice for workloads that need the largest instance sizes or continuous high CPU usage, such as gaming servers, CPU-based machine learning (ML), and video-streaming. M7i offer larger instance sizes, up to 48xlarge, and two bare metal sizes (metal-24xl, metal-48xl). These bare-metal sizes support built-in Intel accelerators: Data Streaming Accelerator, In-Memory Analytics Accelerator, and QuickAssist Technology that are used to facilitate efficient offload and acceleration of data operations and optimize performance for workloads.

To learn more, visit Amazon EC2 M7i Instances. To get started, see the AWS Management Console.

Published: 2026-02-19 17:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-connect-cases-aws-service-quotas

Amazon Connect Cases now supports AWS Service Quotas, giving administrators a centralized way to view applied limits, monitor utilization, and scale case workloads without hitting unexpected service constraints. You can request quota increases directly from the Service Quotas console, and eligible requests are automatically approved without manual intervention.

Amazon Connect Cases is available in the following AWS Regions: US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Canada (Central), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (London), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), and Africa (Cape Town). To learn more and get started, visit the Amazon Connect Cases webpage and documentation.

Published: 2026-02-18 17:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-opensearch-service-supports-i7i-instances

Amazon OpenSearch Service now supports latest generation x86 based high performance Storage Optimized i7i instances. Powered by 5th generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, I7i instances deliver up to 23% better compute performance and more than 10% better price performance over previous generation I4i instances.

I7i instances have 3rd generation AWS Nitro SSDs with up to 50% better real-time storage performance, up to 50% lower storage I/O latency, and up to 60% lower storage I/O latency variability compared to I4i instances. Built on the AWS Nitro System, these instances offload CPU virtualization, storage, and networking functions to dedicated hardware and software enhancing the performance and security for your workloads.

Amazon OpenSearch Service supports i7i instances in following AWS Regions US East (N. Virginia, Ohio), US West (N. California, Oregon), Canada (Central), Canada West (Calgary), Europe (Frankfurt, Ireland, London, Milan, Spain, Stockholm, Zurich ), Africa (Cape Town), Asia Pacific (Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Jakarta, Malaysia, Melbourne, Mumbai, Osaka, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo), Middle East (UAE), South America (São Paulo) & AWS GovCloud (US-West).

For region specific availability & pricing, visit our pricing page. To learn more about Amazon OpenSearch Service and its capabilities, visit our product page.

Published: 2026-02-18 04:30:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-connect-cases-multiline-text-fields/

Amazon Connect now supports larger, multi-line text fields on case templates allowing agents to capture detailed free-form notes and structured data directly within cases. These fields expand vertically to accommodate multiple paragraphs, making it easier to document root cause analysis, transaction details, investigation findings, or customer-facing updates.

Amazon Connect Cases is available in the following AWS regions: US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Canada (Central), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (London), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), and Africa (Cape Town) AWS regions. To learn more and get started, visit the Amazon Connect Cases webpage and documentation.

Published: 2026-02-17 17:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-weekly-roundup-claude-sonnet-4-6-in-amazon-bedrock-kiro-in-govcloud-regions-new-agent-plugins-and-more-february-23-2026/

Last week, my team met many developers at Developer Week in San Jose. My colleague, Vinicius Senger delivered a great keynote about renascent software—a new way of building and evolving applications where humans and AI collaborate as co-developers using Kiro. Other colleagues, Du’An Lightfoot, Elizabeth Fuentes, Laura Salinas, and Sandhya Subramani spoke about building and […]

Published: 2026-02-23 16:56:24+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-iam-identity-center-now-supports-multi-region-replication-for-aws-account-access-and-application-use/

AWS IAM Identity Center now supports multi-Region replication of workforce identities and permission sets, enabling improved resiliency for AWS account access and allowing applications to be deployed closer to users while meeting data residency requirements.

Published: 2026-02-03 19:13:34+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/03/aws-batch-configurable-scale-down-delay/

AWS Batch now allows you to configure a scale down delay for managed compute environments, helping reduce job processing delays for intermittent and periodic workloads. With the new minScaleDownDelayMinutes parameter, you can specify how long AWS Batch keeps instances running after their jobs complete (from 20 minutes to 1 week), preventing unnecessary instance terminations and relaunches that can delay subsequent job processing.

You can configure the scale down delay when creating or updating a compute environment via the AWS Batch API (CreateComputeEnvironment or UpdateComputeEnvironment) or the AWS Batch Management Console. The delay is applied at the instance level, based on when each instance last completed a job.

Scale down delay is supported today in all AWS Regions where AWS Batch is available. For more information, see the AWS Batch API Guide.

Published: 2026-03-02 19:05:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-bedrock-batch-inference-supports-converse-api-format/

Amazon Bedrock batch inference now supports the Converse API as a model invocation type, enabling you to use a consistent, model-agnostic input format for your batch workloads.

Previously, batch inference required model-specific request formats using the InvokeModel API. Now, when creating a batch inference job, you can select Converse as the model invocation type and structure your input data using the standard Converse API request format. Output for Converse batch jobs follows the Converse API response format. With this feature, you can use the same unified request format for both real-time and batch inference, simplifying prompt management and reducing the effort needed to switch between models. You can configure the Converse model invocation type through both the Amazon Bedrock console and the API.

This capability is available in all AWS Regions that support Amazon Bedrock batch inference. To get started, see Create a batch inference job and Format and upload your batch inference data in the Amazon Bedrock User Guide.

Published: 2026-02-27 19:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-opensearch-service-adds-new-insights-improved-cluster-stability/

Amazon OpenSearch Service has enhanced Cluster Insights with two new insights — Cluster Overload and Suboptimal Sharding Strategy. Suboptimal Sharding Strategy provides instant visibility into shard imbalances that cause uneven workload distribution, while Cluster Overload surfaces elevated cluster resource utilization that can lead to request throttling or rejections. Both insights come with details of affected resources along with actionable mitigation recommendations.

Previously, identifying resource constraints and shard imbalances required manually correlating multiple metrics and logs, making it difficult to detect issues early. With these new insights, you can proactively monitor cluster health and take timely action.

Suboptimal Sharding Strategy detects shard imbalances caused by indices with too few shards relative to the number of data nodes, or by shards carrying disproportionately large amounts of data compared to others. It identifies the root cause of uneven workload distribution and provides recommendations to help you achieve optimal shard distribution for improved query performance and resource utilization. Similarly, Cluster Overload helps you identify elevated resource utilization, including CPU, memory, disk I/O, disk throughput, and disk utilization that can potentially lead to request throttling or rejections. It also provides scale-up recommendations so you can take timely action to protect your critical workloads.

These new insights are available at no additional cost for OpenSearch version 2.17 or later in all Regions where the OpenSearch UI is available. See the complete list of supported Regions here. To learn more, visit the Cluster Insights documentation or view the complete catalog of available insights.

Published: 2026-02-27 10:49:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/03/amazon-bedrock-projects-api-mantle-inference-engine/

Amazon Bedrock now supports OpenAI-compatible Projects API in the Mantle inference engine in Amazon Bedrock. Amazon Bedrock is a fully managed service that offers a broad selection of best-in-class foundation models from leading AI companies like Anthropic, Meta, and OpenAI, along with a broad set of specialized developer tools that make it easy to build and scale compelling generative AI applications. Mantle is Amazon Bedrock's distributed inference engine for large-scale model serving that supports OpenAI-compatible APIs.

With Projects API, customers who have more than one application, environment, or team can now create individual projects to achieve better isolation across all of them. You can assign different IAM-based access control to each project and add tags to each project for better cost visibility.

Projects are available for all customers using the OpenAI-compatible APIs, the Responses API and Chat Completions API, through the Mantle inference engine in Amazon Bedrock. There is no additional charge for using the Projects API. You pay only for the underlying model inference you consume. To get started with the Projects API in Amazon Bedrock, visit the Amazon Bedrock documentation. 

Published: 2026-02-26 23:06:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/lambda-durable-execution-java-preview/

Today, AWS announces the developer preview of the AWS Lambda Durable Execution SDK for Java. With this SDK, developers can build resilient multi-step applications like order processing pipelines, AI-assisted workflows, and human-in-the-loop approvals using Lambda durable functions, without implementing custom progress tracking or integrating external orchestration services.

Lambda durable functions extend Lambda's event-driven programming model with operations that checkpoint progress automatically and pause execution for up to a year when waiting on external events. The new Durable Execution SDK for Java provides an idiomatic experience for building with durable functions and is compatible with Java 17+. This preview includes steps for progress tracking, waits for efficient suspension, and durable futures for callback-based workflows.

To get started, see the Lambda durable functions developer guide and the AWS Lambda Durable Execution SDK for Java on GitHub. To learn more about Lambda durable functions, visit the product page.

On-demand functions are not billed for duration while paused. For pricing details, see AWS Lambda Pricing. For information about AWS Regions where Lambda durable functions are available, see the AWS Regional Services List.

Published: 2026-02-26 07:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/aws-appconfig-new-relic-for-automated-rollback/

AWS AppConfig today launched a new integration that enables automated, intelligent rollbacks during feature flag and dynamic configuration deployments using New Relic Workflow Automation. Building on AWS AppConfig's third-party alert capability, this integration provides teams using New Relic with a solution to automatically detect degraded application health and trigger rollbacks in seconds, eliminating manual intervention.

When you deploy feature flags using AWS AppConfig's gradual deployment strategy, the AWS AppConfig New Relic Extension continuously monitors your application health against configured alert conditions. If issues are detected during a feature flag update and deployment, such as increased error rates or elevated latency, the New Relic Workflow automatically sends a notification to trigger an immediate rollback, reverting the feature flag to its previous state. This closed-loop automation reduces the time between detection and remediation from minutes to seconds, minimizing customer impact during failed deployments.

 

Published: 2026-02-24 16:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/aws-mediaconvert-introduces-video-probe/

Introducing Probe API, a powerful and free metadata analysis tool for AWS Elemental MediaConvert. Optimized for efficiency, Probe API reads header metadata to quickly return essential information about your media files, including codec specifications, pixel formats, color space details, and container information - all without waiting to process the actual video content. This analysis capability makes it an invaluable tool for content creators, developers, and media professionals who need to quickly validate files, automate workflows, or utilize Elementals' Step Functions to make encoding decisions based on source material characteristics.

For complete implementation details and usage examples, please visit the MediaConvert API Reference documentation. The Probe API can be utilized in any region where AWS Elemental MediaConvert is available, making it a versatile tool for streamlining your media workflow analysis.

To get started with Probe API and explore its capabilities, visit the AWS Elemental MediaConvert product page or consult the User Guide for comprehensive documentation.

Published: 2026-02-24 00:01:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-bedrock-reinforcement-fine-tuning-openai

Amazon Bedrock now extends reinforcement fine-tuning (RFT) support to popular open-weight models, including OpenAI GPT-OSS and Qwen models, and introduces OpenAI-compatible fine-tuning APIs. These capabilities make it easier for developers to improve open-weight model accuracy without requiring deep machine learning expertise or large volumes of labeled data. Reinforcement fine-tuning in Amazon Bedrock automates the end-to-end customization workflow, allowing models to learn from feedback on multiple possible responses using a small set of prompts, rather than traditional large training datasets. Reinforcement fine-tuning enables customers to use smaller, faster, and more cost-effective model variants while maintaining high quality.

Organizations often struggle to adapt foundation models to their unique business requirements, forcing tradeoffs between generic models with limited performance and complex, expensive customization pipelines that require specialized infrastructure and expertise. Amazon Bedrock removes this complexity by providing a fully managed, secure reinforcement fine-tuning experience. Customers define reward functions using verifiable rule-based graders or AI-based judges, including built-in templates for both objective tasks such as code generation and math reasoning, and subjective tasks such as instruction following or conversational quality. During training, customers can use AWS Lambda functions for custom grading logic, and access intermediate model checkpoints to evaluate, debug, and select the best-performing model, improving iteration speed and training efficiency. All proprietary data remains within AWS’s secure, governed environment throughout the customization process.

Models supported at this launch are: qwen.qwen3-32b and openai.gpt-oss-20b. After fine-tuning completes, customers can immediately use the resulting fine tuned model for on-demand inference through Amazon Bedrock’s OpenAI-compatible APIs - Responses API and Chat Completions API, without any additional deployment steps. To learn more, see the Amazon Bedrock documentation.

Published: 2026-02-17 21:17:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/claude-sonnet-4.6-available-in-amazon-bedrock/

Starting today, Amazon Bedrock supports Claude Sonnet 4.6, which offers frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work at scale. According to Anthropic, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is their best computer use model yet, allowing organizations to deploy browser-based automation across business tools with near-human reliability. Claude Sonnet 4.6 approaches Opus 4.6 intelligence at a lower cost. It enables faster, high-quality task completion, making it ideal for high-volume coding and knowledge work use cases. 

 

Claude Sonnet 4.6 serves as a direct upgrade to Sonnet 4.5 across use cases that require consistent conversational quality and efficient multi-step orchestration. For search and chat applications, it delivers reliable performance across single and multi-turn exchanges at a price point that makes high-volume deployment practical, maintaining quality standards while optimizing for scale. Developers can leverage Claude Sonnet 4.6’s for agentic workflows, seamlessly filling both lead agent and subagent roles in multi-model pipelines with precise workflow management and context compaction capabilities. Enterprise teams can use Claude Sonnet 4.6 to power domain-specific applications with professional precision, including spreadsheet and financial model creation that accelerates analysis workflows, compliance review processes that require meticulous attention to detail, and data summarization tasks where iteration speed and accuracy are paramount. Claude Sonnet 4.6 requires only minor prompting adjustments from Sonnet 4.5, ensuring smooth migration for existing implementations. 

 

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is now available in Amazon Bedrock. For the full list of available regions, refer to the documentation. To learn more and get started with Claude Sonnet 4.6 in Amazon Bedrock, read the About Amazon blog and visit the Amazon Bedrock console.

Published: 2026-02-17 15:43:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/02/amazon-mq-activemq-5-19/

Amazon MQ now supports ActiveMQ minor version 5.19, which introduces several improvements and fixes compared to the previous version of ActiveMQ supported by Amazon MQ. Amazon MQ manages the patch version upgrades for your brokers. All brokers on ActiveMQ version 5.19 will be automatically upgraded to the next compatible and secure patch version in your scheduled maintenance window.

If you are utilizing prior versions of ActiveMQ, such as 5.18, we strongly recommend you to upgrade to ActiveMQ 5.19. You can easily perform this upgrade with just a few clicks in the AWS Management Console. To learn more about upgrading, consult the ActiveMQ Version Management section in the Amazon MQ Developer Guide. To learn more about the changes in ActiveMQ 5.19, see the Amazon MQ release notes. This version is available across all AWS Regions where Amazon MQ is available.

Published: 2026-02-19 17:00:00+00:00

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/02/amazon-connect-time-off-draft-schedules

Amazon Connect now includes agent time-off requests in draft schedules, making it easier for you to view why an agent was not scheduled on a particular day or part of the day. For example, when generating schedules for next month, you can see that an agent who typically works Monday to Friday wasn't scheduled for the first week because they're on leave without needing to check the published schedules or troubleshooting configuration as to why agent was not scheduled. This launch helps schedulers quickly identify coverage gaps and adjust schedules before publishing them to agents.

This feature is available in all AWS Regions where Amazon Connect agent scheduling is available. To learn more about Amazon Connect agent scheduling, click here.

Published: 2026-02-17 18:50:00+00:00