The launch of AWS Marketplace more than five years ago heralded a unique opportunity at the time for customers of the public cloud to find, purchase and deploy software. The online bazaar has grown significantly since 2012, with 4,200 software listings from 1,300 providers. Just in the past month, Amazon Web Services Inc. has introduced several new features clearly aimed at bringing more enterprise customers to market.

“The driver was customer feedback,” said Barry Russell (pictured, right), general manager of the AWS Marketplace and Service Catalog at Amazon Web Services Inc., who described a survey process that involved hundreds of customers. “We see growth and adoption from the enterprise.”

Russell stopped by the set of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and spoke with co-hosts John Furrier (@furrier) and Stu Miniman (@stu) during the AWS re:Invent event in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was joined by Chad Whalen (pictured, left), vice president of worldwide cloud sales at F5 Networks Inc., and they discussed new Marketplace features released by AWS and the various marketing options available to F5’s partners and customers. (* Disclosure below.)

PrivateLink and Image Build for customers

The new features announced last month include PrivateLink, where developers provide application access using a Virtual Private Cloud while avoiding the security risk associated with the public web. AWS also announced Private Image Build, which allows customers to create machine images combined with third-party software from Marketplace partners to better ensure security and governance.

A third new feature from AWS focused on the Enterprise Contract, designed to help streamline the procurement process between enterprise customers and software vendors.

“The public cloud is a strategic imperative for F5,” said Whalen, whose company joined the AWS Marketplace consulting partner program two years ago. “It’s all about reducing the friction in the process.”

F5, an application delivery networking company, was recently selected to participate in the AWS Marketplace Channel Opportunity Registration Program. The selection of F5 will provide its partners with new opportunities in the public cloud, according to Whalen.

“What we get out of Marketplace is a fantastic set of options from a commercial construct to solve the customer requirements,” Whalen said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (* Disclosure: Amazon Web Services Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither AWS nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE