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Tag: Cloud Computing

  • Microsoft Beats Estimates, Powered by Strong Cloud Growth

    Microsoft Beats Estimates, Powered by Strong Cloud Growth

    Microsoft has announced its quarterly results, beating estimates as a result of its strong cloud growth.

    As the coronavirus pandemics has swept the globe, companies have been moving to the cloud in record numbers. This has enabled them to remain functional and productive, despite millions of American employees working from home. Microsoft, in particular, has benefited from this thanks to its complete technology stack—from local operating systems and office software, to full cloud platform.

    “The last five months have made it clear that tech intensity is the key to business resilience. Organizations that build their own digital capability will recover faster and emerge from this crisis stronger,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “We are the only company with an integrated, modern technology stack – powered by cloud and AI and underpinned by security and compliance – to help every organization transform and reimagine how they meet customer needs.”

    The company’s position helped it hit $38 billion in revenue, an increase of 13% over the year-ago-quarter. Its operating income was $13.4 billion and its net income was $11.2 billion.

    “Our commercial cloud surpassed $50 billion in annual revenue for the first time this year. And this quarter our Commercial bookings were better than expected, growing 12% year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “As we drive growth across the company, we remain committed to investing in long-term strategic opportunities.”

  • Google Introduces Confidential Computing, a New Way of Encrypting Cloud Data

    Google Introduces Confidential Computing, a New Way of Encrypting Cloud Data

    Google Cloud has introduced Confidential Computing in a bid to help secure data in the cloud.

    Google and Microsoft are both founding members of the Confidential Computing industry group. The goal of Confidential Computing is to encrypt and secure data while it is being used and processed. This is far different than current encryption methods, wherein data must be decrypted in order to access it. In its current incarnation, Google Cloud encrypts data in transit and at rest, but the data must be decrypted to work with.

    Confidential Computing is a game-changer since it keeps data encrypted at every step of the process, including when the data is being accessed.

    “Google Cloud encrypts data at-rest and in-transit, but customer data must be decrypted for processing,” write Nelly Porter, Senior Product Manager; Gilad Golan, Engineering Director, Confidential Computing; and Sam Lugani, Lead Security PMM, G Suite & GCP platform. “Confidential Computing is a breakthrough technology which encrypts data in-use—while it is being processed. Confidential Computing environments keep data encrypted in memory and elsewhere outside the central processing unit (CPU).

    “Confidential VMs, now in beta, is the first product in Google Cloud’s Confidential Computing portfolio. We already employ a variety of isolation and sandboxing techniques as part of our cloud infrastructure to help make our multi-tenant architecture secure. Confidential VMs take this to the next level by offering memory encryption so that you can further isolate your workloads in the cloud. Confidential VMs can help all our customers protect sensitive data, but we think it will be especially interesting to those in regulated industries.”

    This is an exciting development in the realm of cloud security, and specifically for Google Cloud. As the first major cloud provider to offer Confidential Computing, this is a big win for Google as it battles its larger rivals in the cloud space.

  • Google Reneges On Promise, Angers Open Source Community

    Google Reneges On Promise, Angers Open Source Community

    Google has found itself in hot water with the open source community by reneging on a promise it made regarding Istio.

    Istio is a “mesh service,” a critical piece of cloud architecture that ensures all the various microservices that comprise a cloud platform work together. Google developed Istio, and it quickly became one of the most popular mesh services available, supported by a wide array of companies. Part of this popularity came from the boost IBM gave Istio, when they merged their own Amalgam8 mesh service into Google’s project and joined forces with search giant to promote Istio.

    The controversy is surrounding Google’s 2017 promise to turn Istio over to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). Instead, the company has decided to turn over control to the Open Usage Commons (OUC), a brand-new, open source organization Google created, and then announced on July 8. Needless to say, this bait-and-switch has not sat well with the open source community.

    “Today’s announcement by Google of the creation of the Open Usage Commons (OUC) is disappointing because it doesn’t live up to the community’s expectation for open governance,” writes IBM’s Jason McGee. “An open governance process is the underpinning of many successful projects. Without this vendor-neutral approach to project governance, there will be friction within the community of Kubernetes-related projects.

    “At the project’s inception, there was an agreement that the project would be contributed to the CNCF when it was mature. IBM continues to believe that the best way to manage key open source projects such as Istio is with true open governance, under the auspices of a reputable organization with a level playing field for all contributors, transparency for users, and vendor-neutral management of the license and trademarks. Google should reconsider their original commitment and bring Istio to the CNCF.”

    These are strong words from Google’s Istio partner and should cause the company to reconsider its position. Google has spent years earning the goodwill of the open source community, something this debacle is quickly undoing.

  • AWS Looks to the Final Frontier of Cloud Computing: Space

    AWS Looks to the Final Frontier of Cloud Computing: Space

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new space business segment aimed at taking cloud computing farther than ever.

    Space-based business ventures are coming into their own and getting off the ground (pun intended), with space-based internet, communications, cloud services and more. Manned space trips are increasing in frequency and importance, as countries are looking to the moon and Mars for possible colonization.

    AWS sees an opportunity to leverage their extensive cloud experience and portfolio to provide the backbone for these companies and industries. The new business unit, Aerospace and Satellite Solutions, will be run by retired Air Force Major Gen. Clint Crosier, who previously served as the director of Space Force Planning, referring to the latest branch of the US military.

    “We find ourselves in the most exciting time in space since the Apollo missions,” Crosier said in today’s announcement from Amazon. “I have watched AWS transform the IT industry over the last 10 years and be instrumental in so many space milestones. I am honored to join AWS to continue to transform the industry and propel the space enterprise forward.”

    Amazon’s investment in this space (pun intended again) illustrates the importance of the space industry to the US economy and technological future.

  • AWS Unveils Low-Code Honeycode Development Service

    AWS Unveils Low-Code Honeycode Development Service

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) has released a beta of Honeycode, a low-code development service for cloud computing.

    AWS is the current, undisputed champion of cloud computing, with a commanding lead in the market. In spite of that, both Microsoft and Goole have made headway and are chipping away at AWS’ lead.

    Simultaneously, one of the biggest trends in the tech industry is low or no-code development. These tools provide a way for organizations to quickly prototype, develop and deploy applications with minimal coding. This can significantly reduce investment cost, and speed up development. Both Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud offer low-code development options.

    Now Amazon is playing catchup, with the release of Honeycode. Honeycode is described as “a fully managed service that allows customers to quickly build powerful mobile and web applications – with no programming required.”

    According to the company’s announcement, “customers can use a simple visual application builder to create highly interactive web and mobile applications backed by a powerful AWS-built database to perform tasks like tracking data over time and notifying users of changes, routing approvals, and facilitating interactive business processes. Using Amazon Honeycode, customers can create applications that range in complexity from a task-tracking application for a small team to a project management system that manages a complex workflow for multiple teams or departments.”

    It’s a safe bet Honeycode will be a popular addition to the AWS ecosystem and help the company as it continues to fend off Microsoft and Google.

  • Amazon May Be Looking to Acquire Slack

    Amazon May Be Looking to Acquire Slack

    Amazon may be looking to acquire Slack to better compete with Microsoft and Google, as well as cash in on the work-from-home trend.

    Amazon and Slack recently inked a deal to deploy the messaging platform across the Amazon Web Services (AWS) workforce. At the same time, Slack committed to continued reliance on AWS as their cloud provider of choice, and will use Amazon’s Chime to power Slack Calls.

    Daniel Newman, an analyst at Futurum Research, has told Business Insider that the deal may be part of a much bigger plan for Amazon.

    “It’s a clear opportunity to get more deeply under the hood,” Newman told Business Insider. “Amazon’s Chime product is limited in adoption and Slack is beloved, but has no direction when you compare it to Zoom. Microsoft has Teams and Google has pretty complete meeting applications. When you look at a suitor like AWS, it’s a really good potential fit.”

    While no one knows for sure if Amazon is actually looking to purchase Slack, the move would make a lot of sense and shore up perceived weak spot. AWS leads the cloud market, but does not have the depth of software offerings that its rivals do, especially Microsoft and Google. Both of those companies have communication platforms that are hugely popular. This has led analysts to speculate Amazon might make a move for Slack even before this deal.

    Should the speculation prove true, the move could significantly alter the messaging market and give Amazon a competitive advantage.

  • Amazon Opening AWS Office in Redmond, Will Create 600 New Jobs

    Amazon Opening AWS Office in Redmond, Will Create 600 New Jobs

    Amazon has just fired a shot across Microsoft’s bow with plans to open a Redmond-based office that will house up to 600 AWS employees.

    Amazon has been increasing its presence in the Redmond area, with the city being chosen for Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite endeavor. The company’s new offices, however, will host AWS engineering teams.

    It’s likely no accident Amazon has chosen Redmond for its new offices. In recent years, Microsoft Azure has emerged as the strongest competitor to AWS, so having a presence in Microsoft’s backyard makes sense.

    Officials for both Amazon and Redmond touted the announcement as one that would benefit the city, as well as Amazon’s employees.

    “Our new Redmond office is part of our plan to continue growing and creating jobs in the Puget Sound region,” said John Schoettler, Amazon’s vice president of global real estate and facilities. “In addition to Redmond’s strong existing talent pool and close access to our Seattle and Bellevue locations, these new facilities will also provide more flexible work options for employees, allowing us to continue our sustainable growth in the region for years to come.”

    “We are thrilled that Amazon has decided to create even more jobs and further invest in Redmond,” said Angela Birney, mayor of Redmond. “As we look to the future and people are able to get back to work, Amazon’s commitment to providing jobs for the community by utilizing existing talent in the Puget Sound Region will continue to strengthen Redmond’s growth and prosperity now and for years to come.”

  • Google Scores Defense Innovation Unit Contract

    Google Scores Defense Innovation Unit Contract

    While Microsoft and Amazon battle it out in court over one Department of Defense (DOD) contract, Google has secured a contract of its own.

    The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is an organization within the DOD that helps the military innovate by adopting commercial software. As a result, the DIU helps prototype, deploy and scale commercial solutions to meet needs within the military.

    The DIU has selected Google Cloud to build a secure cloud management solution based on Anthos, providing a multi-cloud approach that is managed from Google Cloud Console. Google Cloud will also use Istio for secure communication and Netskope for cloud security. This will allow the DIU to run web apps on multiple clouds, including Google Cloud, AWS and Microsoft Azure, and help the organization combat cyber threats worldwide.

    “Google Cloud is a pioneer in ‘zero trust’ security and in deploying innovative approaches to protecting and securing networks worldwide,” said Mike Daniels, Vice President, Global Public Sector, Google Cloud. “We’re honored to partner with DIU on this critical initiative to protect its network from bad actors that pose threats to our national security.”

    “Government agencies shouldn’t have to choose between security and throughput,” said Beau Hutto, VP Public Sector, Netskope. “Netskope is a leader in providing complete visibility and control for managed and unmanaged applications. This secure cloud management solution will help the DIU maintain vigilance, while also helping it seamlessly manage applications in service of its mission.”

  • Microsoft Acquiring Metaswitch Networks

    Microsoft Acquiring Metaswitch Networks

    Microsoft announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Metaswitch Networks, a developer of network software.

    Metaswitch Networks’ products are used by over 1,000 customers worldwide, and the company has recently pioneered “the development of ultra-high-performance cloud native communications software. This software is underpinning modern cloud-based communication networks, in the core and at the edge.”

    In the blog post announcing the acquisition, Yousef Khalidi, Corporate Vice President of Azure Networking, made it clear this focus on cloud-based communication was at the heart of the acquisition.

    “The convergence of cloud and communication networks presents a unique opportunity for Microsoft to serve operators globally via continued investment in Azure, adding additional depth to our hyperscale cloud infrastructure with the specialized software required to run virtualized communication functions, applications and networks.”

    By combining Metaswitch Networks’ software with Azure, Microsoft will be in a position to better meet the needs of new and existing companies.

    “We have a long history of working with operators as they increasingly embrace software-based solutions and continue to support the advancement of cloud-based networking while helping create new partnership opportunities for existing network equipment providers,” continues Khalidi. “Our intention over time is to create modern alternatives to network infrastructure, enabling operators to deliver existing and value-added services – with greater cost efficiency and lower capital investment than they’ve faced in the past.”

  • Apple Beefing Up Cloud Division With Spate of Hires

    Apple Beefing Up Cloud Division With Spate of Hires

    Apple has been on a hiring spree, bringing in some of the best cloud engineers money can buy.

    While cloud computing may not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think of the iPhone maker, the company has a large cloud presence. The App Store, Apple Music, iCloud Drive and file storage, as well as Apple TV+ are all part of the company’s cloud presence.

    As Protocol reports, it’s unclear what the new hires are being brought on to tackle, although the sheer number and quality of the hires is impressive. According to Protocol, the list includes:

    • Michael Crosby, one of a handful of ex-Docker engineers to join Apple this year. “Michael is who we can thank for containers as they exist today. He was the powerhouse engineer behind all of it,” said a former colleague who asked to remain anonymous.
    • Arun Gupta, who joined Apple in February from AWS and is now leading Apple’s open-source efforts.
    • Maksym Pavlenko, another former AWS employee who worked on its managed container services such as AWS Fargate.
    • Francesc Campoy, an ex-Googler who will be working on Kubernetes for Apple.

    It will be interesting to see what Apple has planned, and whether it is simply beefing up its existing services, or more directly going after mainstream cloud providers.

  • AWS Unveils Amazon AppFlow to Integrate With SaaS Applications

    AWS Unveils Amazon AppFlow to Integrate With SaaS Applications

    AWS has announced Amazon AppFlow, an integration service aimed at helping AWS integrate with various SaaS applications.

    Amazon AppFlow was born out of a need to connect with data siloed away in various SaaS applications and services. Previously, in order to integrate that data in AWS, companies would need to write custom code to bring the data together and make it accessible.

    Amazon AppFlow addresses these problems by providing a way for individuals of all different technical levels to create bidirectional workflows and data integrations, without the need to write any code. The console allows triggers to be set up to perform actions, all of which can be accomplished in just a few minutes. The end result is a secure method of integrating data.

    “Our customers tell us that they love having the ability to store, process, and analyze their data in AWS. They also use a variety of third party SaaS applications, and they tell us that it can be difficult to manage the flow of data between AWS and these applications,” said Kurt Kufeld, Vice President, AWS. “Amazon AppFlow provides an intuitive and easy way for customers to combine data from AWS and SaaS applications without moving it across the public Internet. With Amazon AppFlow, our customers bring together and manage petabytes, even exabytes, of data spread across all of their applications – all without having to develop custom connectors or manage underlying API and network connectivity.”

    Amazon AppFlow is likely to be a big hit among companies looking to integrate their SaaS data into AWS.

  • DOD Temporarily Adopts Microsoft Teams For Remote Work

    DOD Temporarily Adopts Microsoft Teams For Remote Work

    The Deparment of Defense (DOD) has announced it is adopting Microsoft Teams to temporarily help it cope with the increase in remote workers.

    As the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a toll on organizations around the world, tech solutions that provide a way for individuals to continue working remotely are in high demand. Few companies have benefited from that reality more than Microsoft, whose Teams software has become a staple of many companies and organizations.

    The DOD is not immune to these trends, and established the “Commercial Virtual Remote (CVR) Environment to support the Department’s move towards a large-scale telework posture in response to the COVID–19 national emergency. This new tool will provide DoD with enhanced collaboration capabilities for DoD teleworkers to facilitate continuity of operations throughout the duration of the emergency.”

    Microsoft Teams will evidently play a big, not to mention unusual, role in the CVR Environment. According to Computerworld, “DoD employees will be able to access the CVR Teams environment via Microsoft Office 365 in the Government Commercial Cloud for chat, video and document collaboration. Unlike existing deployments of Teams in the DoD, the CVR Teams environment will be available on personal and mobile devices and on commercial networks, though the department has restricted what information can be shared.”

    This move is an indication of the ongoing challenges organizations are facing, and the measures being taken to maintain productivity in the face of unprecedented circumstances.

  • DOJ Inspector General Lends Support to Microsoft’s JEDI Win Over Amazon

    DOJ Inspector General Lends Support to Microsoft’s JEDI Win Over Amazon

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) has reviewed Microsoft’s JEDI win and found no interference by the Trump administration.

    Microsoft stunned the industry when it won the Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, worth some $10 billion. Amazon had widely been considered the likely candidate to win the contract, especially given the company’s history of working on sensitive government contracts in the past. In short order, Amazon launched legal challenges to try to have the Pentagon’s decision overturned. One of the alleged discrepancies was disparaging comments President Trump made that Amazon believed may have played a part in Microsoft winning.

    With the DOJ watchdog’s report, however, those concerns seem to have been put to rest—albeit with a bit of a caveat. While acknowledging investigators did encounter some interference from the White House, they said: “However, we believe the evidence we received showed that the DoD personnel who evaluated the contract proposals and awarded Microsoft the JEDI Cloud contract were not pressured regarding their decision on the award of the contract by any DoD leaders more senior to them, who may have communicated with the White House.”

    At the same time, Microsoft has used the DOJ’s report to accuse Amazon of unfairly trying to gain an advantage in the bidding process. In a blog post following the DOJ’s report, Microsoft said the following:

    “That brings us to where we are today. The DoD is seeking to be responsive to the issue the Court raised in issuing the preliminary injunction. But that’s not good enough for Amazon. Amazon doesn’t want a solution that addresses the Court’s concerns and sticks to the original pricing in the competitors’ bids. According to its brief, it wants no ‘constraint on the offerors’ ability to revise their pricing.’

    “This, according to the government, is a ‘a transparent effort to undercut Microsoft on price, now that [Amazon] has a target at which to aim.’ Amazon dresses its argument in the language of fairness and level playing fields, but the government’s brief looks right through it: ‘That AWS now regrets its pricing strategy is no reason to allow AWS a do-over, after it gained significant information about its competitor’s pricing, enabling it to use the currently prevailing information asymmetry to underbid its competitor in an effort to secure the contract.’”

    While not clearing Microsoft to move forward with the contract, the IG’s findings certainly lend weight to Microsoft’s win and undermine Amazon’s complaints.

  • Amazon Detective is The Investigator You Need For AWS

    Amazon Detective is The Investigator You Need For AWS

    Amazon has announced the release of Amazon Detective, a tool to automate the processing of investigating cloud security issues.

    Dealing with cloud security issues can tax even the largest companies. As organizations move to the cloud, it can open a whole new world of threats, requiring a completely different approach to security. Unfortunately, while cloud services often provide ample data to investigate any issues that arise, the sheer amount of data can be overwhelming.

    That’s where Amazon Detective come into play. “Amazon Detective is a fully managed service that empowers users to automate the heavy lifting involved in processing large quantities of AWS log data to determine the cause and impact of a security issue,” writes Sébastien Stormacq. “Once enabled, Detective automatically begins distilling and organizing data from AWS Guard Duty, AWS CloudTrail, and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Flow Logs into a graph model that summarizes the resource behaviors and interactions observed across your entire AWS environment.”

    Amazon Detective was originally previewed at re:invent 2019, but is now available to all AWS customers as of March 31.

  • Satya Nadella: Microsoft Teams Becoming ‘Critical Infrastructure’

    Satya Nadella: Microsoft Teams Becoming ‘Critical Infrastructure’

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is touting the company’s software in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

    In an interview with CNBC, Nadella talked about the responsibility he felt toward keeping the company’s employees safe, and the wider role the company plays as “digital first responders.”

    “I think at this point, the most important thing for us as a company, is to ensure the safety of our own employees,” said Nadella. “That’s, I think, the place where I start from. We have done everything to stay grounded in the public health guidance….

    “This pandemic has no borders, and its cure is not going to have any borders. So we have to come together as a global community, and we have to do our part. I sort of describe our role as the ‘digital first responders’ to all the first responders. So, even if you take what’s happening with Microsoft Teams, it’s become critical infrastructure for people who are doing remote work. We’re seeing 60X increase in Teams’ usage, 900 million minutes a day. So, therefore, scaling—I’m very thankful to all the Microsoft employees who are really building all the critical infrastructure and scaling it.

    “Similarly, we’re working with CDC in their pre-screening bot. Because one of the other challenges we face right now, is how do we take the load off of the healthcare system. So this pre-screening bot with CDC protocol is being used, even by Providence and others….

    “The other thing that’s also happening is education. We have lots of students now with remote learning. And that’s another place where Microsoft is stepping up…how does one conduct remote learning? And one of the things we’re doing even today is taking the lessons we’ve always had in Minecraft Education and making them just part of the base game. Because when kids are at home, and parents are also getting involved in helping them stay with their education lesson plans, I think this can be a step forward.

    “So we’re doing everything we can to help us work through this crisis, but it’s going to take all of us.”

  • Ecommerce Ad Spending Doubles As a Result of Coronavirus

    Ecommerce Ad Spending Doubles As a Result of Coronavirus

    While some industries may be reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, ecommerce ad spending is experiencing a boon.

    According to Search Engine Land, a recent report details the growth ecommerce ad spending is currently undergoing, jumping “from $4.8 million the week of February 17 to $9.6 million the week of March 9. The data, released by media sales intelligence firm MediaRadar on Friday, encompasses advertising spend across national TV, print and digital media, including websites, Snapchat, YouTube and podcasts.”

    The data is another indication that the U.S. and world economies are experiencing fundamental shifts as a result of the pandemic. People are practicing social distancing, working from home, turning to social gaming for human interaction, relying on cloud environments, communicating via Slack or Microsoft Teams and turning to videoconferencing in never before seen numbers. Similarly, the increase in ad spending corresponds to people sheltering in place and relying on ecommerce for their day-to-day needs.

    The longer the pandemic goes on, the more likely such trends will become permanent, forever changing how people go about their personal and work lives.

  • China Relying on Robots to Help Fight Coronavirus

    China Relying on Robots to Help Fight Coronavirus

    China may have finally turned a corner in its fight against the coronavirus, and it has robots to thank for helping it do so.

    Throughout the coronavirus pandemic China has issued cutting edge technology in an effort to combat the virus. Early on Chinese authorities used AI-driven robots to scold people for being in public without wearing masks, while companies worked on using drones to deliver medicine and supplies to patients without endangering healthy people.

    As China has continued to fight the pandemic, robots continue to play a significant role in the ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the virus. According to All About Circuits, in addition to the robots scolding people for not wearing masks, authorities are also relying on robots that scan crowds for raised temperatures, one of the earliest symptoms of infection. The robots “include high-resolution cameras and infrared thermometers that are capable of scanning the temperatures of up to 10 people at once who are in a radius of 5 meters. If one of these robots discovers somebody who is not wearing a mask or who has a high temperature, an alert is sent to the authorities.”

    China’s success with robots is only possible due to a combination of 5G, AI, edge computing, cloud computing and IoT. The end result are robots capable of interacting with people in a way never before seen. As All About Circuits highlights, that interaction can be eerily lifelike:

    “You there! The gentleman wearing a red coat holding an umbrella in your left hand—yes, you. You are not wearing a face mask, please put one on immediately. If you do not have one, come to the police car and we will provide you with one.”

    With robots finally beginning to deliver on the promise proponents have long held out, it’s little wonder Microsoft, AT&T, Google Cloud and Verizon are all working hard to capitalize on the emerging technologies.

  • Coronavirus: Amazon Taking Drastic Action to Meet Demand

    Coronavirus: Amazon Taking Drastic Action to Meet Demand

    Amazon is prioritizing shipments of essential items to its warehouses, as it struggles to keep up with demand in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

    As governments, schools and companies take drastic measures to stop the spread of the virus, unprecedented numbers of individuals are staying home. With restaurants and bars closed in many areas, and grocery store shelves running light, people are having to rely on their home supplies and online shopping like never before. The new status quo has strained supply chains, prompting even Walmart to adjust hours to help give stocking crews a chance to catch up.

    Amazon has likewise felt the strain, and is now taking major action to try to meet demand.

    “As COVID-19 has spread, we’ve recently seen an increase in people shopping online which has had an impact on how we serve our customers,” reads a company blog post. “So in the short term, we are making the decision to temporarily prioritize household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so we can more quickly receive, restock and ship these products to customers. Products already on its way to our fulfillment centers will be accepted. This does not impact products being delivered to customers, or products currently in stock in our store. Customers can continue to buy any in-stock product in our store, and we will continue to deliver them.”

    Amazon’s announcement is a major change and will likely have far-reaching financial consequences for companies that rely on Amazon to sell their products. Amazon has already faced tremendous skepticism from retail companies who are reluctant to rely on the company’s cloud solutions, as Amazon is one of their biggest competitors. Now that many companies are seeing one of their primary order fulfillment avenues suspend shipment of their products, even temporarily, companies may be more hesitant to rely as heavily on Amazon in the future.

  • Cloud Business Powers Oracle’s Quarterly Results

    Cloud Business Powers Oracle’s Quarterly Results

    Oracle announced its quarterly results and its cloud business was the star of the show.

    The company reported total revenue of $9.8 billion for the 2020 Q3 results, up 2% year-over-year. Most notably, its Cloud Services and License Support revenue came in at $6.9 billion, a 4% increase year-over-year.

    “We had an extremely strong quarter with Total Revenues growing 3% in constant currency,” said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz. “Subscription revenues, made up of Cloud Services and License Support revenues, grew 5% in constant currency. These consistently growing and recurring subscription revenues now account for 71% of total company revenues, thus enabling a sequential increase in our operating margin, and double-digit non-GAAP Earnings Per Share growth in Q3.”

    “The Oracle Autonomous Database, the world’s only fully autonomous data management system, can automatically patch security vulnerabilities while running; it keeps your data safe,” said Oracle Chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison. “Oracle Autonomous Database is also both serverless and elastic. It’s the only database that can instantaneously scale itself to an optimal level of CPU and IO resources. You only pay for what you use. Security and economy are two fundamental reasons why thousands of customers are now using the revolutionary new Oracle Autonomous Database in our Generation 2 Public Cloud.”

    Oracle has been trying to gain ground against Amazon, Microsoft and Google, with mixed results. Recently, the company has faced an investor lawsuit claiming it bullied customers into accepting cloud contracts and has been inflating its cloud business. Documents were even unveiled wherein Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, who previously served as head of product development at Oracle, called Oracle Cloud “a disgrace” when he was with the company.

    Oracle’s quarterly results should go a long way toward helping the company answer critics.

  • Bad News For Microsoft: Pentagon Wants a Mulligan On JEDI Contract (Updated)

    Bad News For Microsoft: Pentagon Wants a Mulligan On JEDI Contract (Updated)

    The Department of Defense is reconsidering its decision to award Microsoft the JEDI contract, following legal challenges by Amazon.

    Microsoft stunned Amazon and industry insiders when it won the Pentagon’s coveted JEDI contract, worth some $10 billion. The win lent a tremendous amount of credibility to Microsoft’s cloud business, proving it could compete with the biggest, for the best contracts. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicted the contract could lead to a “halo effect” for the company, bringing in even more business.

    Amazon, however, has not taken the loss lying down. The company almost immediately mounted a legal challenge and succeeded in getting a temporary injunction, preventing Microsoft from beginning on the contract. A judge agreed that Amazon stood a good chance of winning its case.

    Now, according to Business Insider, “the Department of Defense on Thursday in a court filing said it ‘wishes to reconsider’ its decision to award the $US10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract to Microsoft.” The Department of Defense said its decision was “in response to the other technical challenges presented by AWS.”

    An Amazon spokesperson told WebProNews: “We are pleased that the DoD has acknowledged ‘substantial and legitimate’ issues that affected the JEDI award decision, and that corrective action is necessary. We look forward to complete, fair, and effective corrective action that fully insulates the re-evaluation from political influence and corrects the many issues affecting the initial flawed award.”

    A reversal by the Pentagon would be a big loss for Microsoft, and likely have a major impact on how the Pentagon awards contracts going forward.

     

    *Updated with comment from Amazon*

  • AWS Using Bottlerocket Linux For Container Hosting

    AWS Using Bottlerocket Linux For Container Hosting

    AWS has revealed that Bottlerocket Linux is the operating system (OS) it is using for container hosting.

    Containers are packages containing all the apps, code, libraries and dependencies necessary to run. Containers can be easily moved from one host to another, without worrying about the underlying OS and environment. Containers can also be managed to prevent any one app or process from hogging a system’s resources, making them the ideal way to scale cloud, hosting and IT systems.

    Bottlerocket is a new Linux distribution that AWS designed and optimized specifically to work with containers.

    “Bottlerocket reflects much of what we have learned over the years,” writes Jeff Barr, Chief Evangelist for AWS. “It includes only the packages that are needed to make it a great container host, and integrates with existing container orchestrators. It supports Docker image and images that conform to the Open Container Initiative (OCI) image format.

    “Instead of a package update system, Bottlerocket uses a simple, image-based model that allows for a rapid & complete rollback if necessary. This removes opportunities for conflicts and breakage, and makes it easier for you to apply fleet-wide updates with confidence using orchestrators such as EKS.

    “In addition to the minimal package set, Bottlerocket uses a file system that is primarily read-only, and that is integrity-checked at boot time via dm-verity. SSH access is discouraged, and is available only as part of a separate admin container that you can enable on an as-needed basis and then use for troubleshooting purposes.”

    AWS is launching a public preview of the OS and inviting others to try it.