Welcome to above the clouds

AWS – Amazon ECS now supports network fault injection experiments on AWS Fargate
Amazon Elastic Container Services (Amazon ECS) now allows you to perform network fault injection experiments on your applications deployed on AWS Fargate. Fault injection experiments create disruptions to test how your applications behave, helping you improve application performance, observability, and resilience. AWS Fault Injection Service (AWS FIS) now supports 6 actions for ECS on both […]

AWS – Amazon AppStream 2.0 introduces Rocky Linux Application and Desktop streaming
Amazon AppStream 2.0 now offers support for Rocky Linux from CIQ, enabling ISVs and central IT organizations to stream from an RPM Package Manager (RPM) compatible environment optimized for running compute-intensive applications while leveraging the flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of the AWS Cloud. With this launch, customers have the flexibility to choose from a broader […]

AWS – Meta’s Llama 3.3 70B model now available in Amazon Bedrock
Meta’s Llama 3.3 70B model is now available in Amazon Bedrock. Llama 3.3 70B represents a significant advancement in model efficiency and performance optimization. This instruction-tuned model delivers impressive capabilities across diverse tasks, including multilingual dialogue, text summarization, and complex reasoning. Llama 3.3 70B is a text-only instruction-tuned model that provides enhanced performance relative to […]

AWS – Amazon Connect now supports multi-party chat
Amazon Connect now supports multi-party chat, allowing up to 4 additional agents to join an ongoing chat conversation, making it easier to collaborate and resolve customer issues quickly. For example, agents can add a supervisor or subject matter experts to join the chat, ensuring customers receive accurate and timely support. Multi-party chat can be enabled […]

AWS – Amazon RDS Proxy announces caching_sha2_password authentication support for MySQL on Aurora and RDS
Amazon RDS Proxy announces caching_sha2_password authentication plugin support for client to proxy connections on MySQL on Aurora and RDS. Customers need to use plugins to perform authentication between databases and clients while using RDS Proxy. Starting with MySQL 8.4, community MySQL uses caching_sha2_password plugin as the default, which is more secure than the previous default […]

AWS – AWS IoT Device Management introduces high-throughput device connectivity status queries
Today, AWS IoT Device Management announces the general availability of a high-throughput connectivity status query API, allowing developers to query the latest connectivity state of IoT devices, for monitoring and management purposes. AWS IoT Device Management is a fully managed cloud service that helps you register, organize, monitor, and remotely manage Internet of Things (IoT) […]

AWS – AWS ParallelCluster 3.12 now available with custom image build enhancements
AWS ParallelCluster 3.12 is now generally available. This release makes it possible to include Lustre and NVIDIA software components in ParallelCluster custom images. Now, you can include ParallelCluster’s recommended Nvidia drivers and CUDA libraries in custom images. This update also makes the Lustre client optional to account for scenarios where you may opt for alternative […]

GCP – Find sensitive data faster (but safely) with Google Distributed Cloud’s gen AI search solution
Today, generative AI is giving organizations new ways to process and analyze data, discover hidden insights, increase productivity and build new applications. However, data sovereignty, regulatory compliance, and low-latency requirements can be a challenge. The need to keep sensitive data in certain locations, adhere to strict regulations, and respond swiftly can make it difficult to […]

GCP – How Google Cloud can help customers achieve compliance with NIS2
With the European Commission’s adoption of the Network and Information Systems Directive 2.0, or NIS2, Europe is taking an essential step forward in its strategy to protect consumers, businesses, and government organizations from escalating threats in cyberspace. NIS2 will help to drive a consistent high level of security and resilience across key sectors of the […]
GCP – What’s new for Google Cloud databases — December 2024
As the year winds down and we gather around the (digital) fireplace, the excitement around Google Cloud databases is ramping up! It’s been a busy season of innovation and customer success, and we’ve got a sack full of updates to share. Join us for a festive feast of news, including key announcements in the databases […]