Welcome to above the clouds
GCP – Dataproc 2.3 on Google Compute Engine: A lightweight image with improved security
Google Cloud Dataproc is a managed service for Apache Spark and Hadoop, providing a fast, easy-to-use, and cost-effective platform for big data analytics. In June, we announced the general availability (GA) of the Dataproc 2.3 image on Google Compute Engine, whose lightweight design offers enhanced security and operational efficiency. “With Dataproc 2.3, we have a […]
GCP – Building scalable AI agents: Design patterns with Agent Engine on Google Cloud
AI Agents are now a reality, moving beyond chatbots to understand intent, collaborate, and execute complex workflows. This leads to increased efficiency, lower costs, and improved customer and employee experiences. This is a key opportunity for System Integrator (SI) Partners to deliver Google Cloud’s advanced AI to more customers. This post details how to build, […]
GCP – Oklahoma transforms data access and boosts employer trust with Google Cloud
The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) is responsible for managing critical services for its citizens, including unemployment insurance benefits and employer tax collection. However, its core operating system resided on an aging mainframe with a 40-year-old data structure. This legacy system created significant roadblocks. The data schema was unintelligible, making it nearly impossible to access, […]
GCP – To Be (A Robot) or Not to Be: New Malware Attributed to Russia State-Sponsored COLDRIVER
Written by: Wesley Shields Introduction COLDRIVER, a Russian state-sponsored threat group known for targeting high profile individuals in NGOs, policy advisors and dissidents, swiftly shifted operations after the May 2025 public disclosure of its LOSTKEYS malware, operationalizing new malware families five days later. It is unclear how long COLDRIVER had this malware in development, but […]
GCP – Agent Factory Recap: A Deep Dive into Agent Evaluation, Practical Tooling, and Multi-Agent Systems
How do you know if your agent is actually working? It’s one of the most complex but critical questions in development. In our latest episode of the Agent Factory podcast, we dedicated the entire session to breaking down the world of agent evaluation. We’ll cover what agent evaluation really means, what you should measure, and […]
AWS – AWS Parallel Computing Service (PCS) now supports Slurm v25.05
AWS Parallel Computing Service (PCS) now supports Slurm v25.05. You can now create AWS PCS clusters running the newer Slurm v25.05. The release of Slurm v25.05 in PCS provides new Slurm functionalities including enhanced multi-cluster sackd configuration and improved requeue behavior for instance launch failures. With this release, login nodes can now control multiple clusters […]
AWS – CloudWatch Database Insights now supports tag based access control
Amazon CloudWatch Database Insights now supports tag-based access control for database and per-query metrics powered by RDS Performance Insights. You can implement access controls across a logical grouping of database resources without managing individual resource-level permissions. Previously, tags defined on RDS and Aurora instances did not apply to metrics powered by Performance Insights, creating significant […]
GCP – How Moloco is powering the future of retail media with AI Vector Search
The retail media landscape has reached an inflection point. What started as a way for retailers to monetize their digital real estate has become the fastest-growing segment of digital advertising, with projections showing 21.9% growth in 2025 and a three-year compound annual growth rate of 19.7% through 2027, according to Dentsu’s Global Ad Spend Forecasts […]
GCP – Unlock next-gen database performance: C4A Axion and N4 machines for Cloud SQL now GA
For today’s business-critical database workloads, the bar that their infrastructure must meet has never been higher. Organizations expect systems that are performant, cost-efficient, scalable and secure. But meeting those expectations is no small feat. Surging data volumes, increasingly complex workloads, and new demands from advanced analytics and vector search for generative AI are intensifying the […]
GCP – Use Gemini CLI to deploy cost-effective LLM workloads on GKE
Deploying LLM workloads can be complex and costly, often involving a lengthy, multi-step process. To solve this, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) offers Inference Quickstart. With Inference Quickstart, you can replace months of manual trial-and-error with out-of-the-box manifests and data-driven insights. Inference Quickstart integrates with the Gemini CLI through native Model Context Protocol (MCP) support to […]
