We’re broadcasting live from Amazon’s AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas this week, kicking off with a CrowdChat to get the conversations rolling. As we outlined in our AWS re:Invent 2013 Resource Guide, the big stories of #AWSReInvent can be boiled down to the battle that lies ahead: AWS is taking on an entire industry with its infrastructure services, while many rivals have laid claim in the OpenStack camp.

The private cloud and the public cloud are seeing two very different races to the top of the hill, and AWS’ cloud strategies are taking it all on. Which ecosystem is best longterm for enterprises? Is Pivotal’s just launched Pivotal One platform vapor or real? We turn to you for insight.  Below is a collection of the top subjects discussed in today’s CrowdChat, spanning the AWS ecosystem.

Does AWS have the right ecosystem for the enterprise?

Amazon’s done well to build its infrastructure to power a retail powerhouse, leveraging the web to its fullest.  But can this success translate to enterprise services, where other businesses’ needs must be taken into account?  As AWS approaches the enterprise with a bevy of new products and competitive pricing, its services certainly have surface appeal. But AWS needs an entire ecosystem of infrastructure components, software, services and partners if it hopes to topple market leaders and maintain dominance.

Tim Crawford, CIO Strategic Advisor at AVOA asked the crowd: #AWS has a great #ecosystem today, but do they have the *right* ecosystem long term for the large swath of enterprise demand?

Pivotal has made lots of good ecosystem parter announcements, now we need to see a lot more custome… #reinvent via https://t.co/U9S3fHyHSb

— Stuart Miniman (@stu) November 12, 2013

@tcrawford from my POV the AWS Ecosystem has changed rapidly from early adopters to include a lot o… #reinvent via https://t.co/JAop6jAuEF — adrian cockcroft (@adrianco) November 12, 2013

Is AWS the iPhone of enterprise cloud?

Having created a system of interworking components, AWS products work very well together.  But is AWS generating a tactic of lock-in, an approach to cloud services that many are looking to avoid?

Open source trends, and OpenStack in particular, have addressed the matter of vendor lock-in, bringing together over a dozen potential competitors in the effort to survive in an increasingly agnostic world of hardware.  Collaborative contributions to software and infrastructure management have opened the doors of innovation, and these shared ideas are exactly what’s required to fend off AWS from total domination.

To draw a parallel to the consumer world, our own John Furrier, Founder and CEO of SiliconANGLE asked the crowd: is AWS the iPhone and OpenStack Android?

@furrier Wow.. as an Apple geek I think you might have nailed that… The question will be for Open… #reinvent via https://t.co/ihypqPAGr3 — Brian Fanzo (@iSocial_Fanz) November 12, 2013

@furrier Are they really directly comparable? Seems more like apples/ oranges. #reinvent via https://t.co/QP2WEgehm6

— Tim Crawford (@tcrawford) November 12, 2013

Can “open” truly beat AWS?

Within the debate of whether or not AWS is like Apple’s closed ecosystem and its rival OpenStack like Android lies another important question: can open systems actually beat AWS in the enterprise?

Pivotal, a recent spin off from EMC and VMware, has launched one answer to this core question with the unveiling of its Pivotal One platform today.  At the heart of Pivotal One is a mobile-capable platform that appeals to IT, developers and system admins alike, effectively spurring a reorganization around applications.  Ensuring the right software is in the right layers of this re-imagined infrastructure, Pivotal is introducing some much-needed perspective to the enterprise.

But Pivotal One’s open system lacks the maturity needed to truly compete against AWS, according to Wikibon CTO and co-founder David Floyer, leaving room to doubt the integration and interoperability of other open solutions as well.

Furrier asked the crowd of Pivotal One: is it vapor or real?

@furrier as long as they pull off real integration between 4 product categories – PaaS, Data (Hadoo… #reinvent via https://t.co/vo5ZSnrmpY

— Renat Khasanshyn (@renatco) November 12, 2013

@furrier the customer and contributor roster at @platformcf was impressive and geniune. With Pivota… #reinvent via https://t.co/o2vM4OLsg5 — Andy Piper (@andypiper) November 12, 2013

@furrier Agree with @stu. Choice is appealing. The community enhancements to Cloud Foundry where it… #reinvent via https://t.co/Zf2c2ouuZj — Caroline McCrory (@CloudOfCaroline) November 12, 2013

Hot topics at re:Invent 2013

We have our own ideas on what to expect from keynote speakers, demonstrators and executives at re:Invent this year, primarily looking at the topics mentioned in this CrowdChat.  But what are other attendees expecting from Amazon’s developer-centric conference in 2013?

Jenn Jinhong of Automatic asked the crowd: What do you think the ‘hot’ topic of #AWS #reinvent will be this year? I’d put my money on #BigData.

@JennJin There seems to be a lot of buzz around what has changed in just 1 year since the last even… #reinvent via https://t.co/TgL1M68BiX

— Brian Fanzo (@iSocial_Fanz) November 12, 2013

Agree on #BigData with focus on volume as much as velocity. Performance and latency improvements is… #reinvent via https://t.co/wjFKni4Bya

— Todd Cadley (@toddcadley) November 12, 2013

The hot topic of AWS re:Invent 2013 that SiliconANGLE is most interested in digging deeper on is the utter destruction AWS is putting on Pivotal, VMware, Microsoft and IBM in terms of winning the future of the cloud. What steps does AWS take to further distance itself from the pack?