Cloud Pod continues to explore and deliver accurate information and deep insights on the latest updates and developments in cloud technology. This episode explores some exciting advancements from leading cloud providers, IBM’s acquisition of Apptio with cash, Ryan’s experience with the company, Justin’s insights from FinopsX, and their expectations for advancements in AI and data enrichment.
As a sponsor of this week’s Cloud Pod, we at Foghorn Consulting support their mission to bring timely news about cloud computing and AI. We also provide services for GCP, AWS, and Microsoft Azure.
AWS has made three significant updates to its Application Migration Service. The first update is the Global-View feature, which allows for managing large-scale migrations across multiple accounts. It provides visibility and the ability to perform actions on different AWS accounts. The second update is the Import and Export from Local Disk feature, which enables importing the source environment inventory list from a CSV file and exporting the server inventory list to a CSV file. Lastly, AWS now offers four predefined post-launch actions: configure time sync, validate disk space, enable Amazon Inspector, and verify HTTP(S) response.
We also discussed AWS AppFabric, a newly launched fully managed service by AWS. AppFabric enhances observability and addresses security threats in SaaS applications. It aggregates and normalizes security data from various SaaS applications to improve observability and help reduce operational effort and cost with no integration work necessary. AppFabric simplifies the process of integrating SaaS apps with existing security tools. The service leverages the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework.
Learn how to harness the power of AWS fully managed services today. Speak with an expert from Foghorn.
Amazon has promised to add generative AI capabilities that you can use to automate tasks across applications in a future release. However, we express skepticism about this feature, as it falls under the realm of “vaporware,” referring to software that is announced but may never materialize.
Finally, we touched upon deploying state machines incrementally using versions and aliases in AWS Step Functions. This new feature makes the deployment of multiple versions of state machines and the creation of aliases to represent specific versions possible. It also facilitates testing changes without affecting production traffic and enables different environments, such as development, staging, and production, to point to different versions of the state machine.
Our hosts share their thoughts on these features, with one host expressing excitement about their usefulness while another is surprised they didn’t exist earlier.
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IBM has acquired Apptio Inc, a software company that offers cloud-based technology and hybrid business management software for IT operations, for $4.6 billion in cash. This strategic move by IBM is aimed at optimizing technology investments and leveraging Apptio’s offerings alongside their IT automation software and Watson AI platform.
During the conversation, one of the hosts, Ryan, shared his experience with Apptio and mentioned the challenges it faced in adapting methodologies to the cloud environment.
Learn more about Ryan’s experience with Apptio here.
The conversation then moved on to Justin’s attendance at FinopsX, where he interacted with startups discussing the integration of AI and LLM (large language models) technology into FinOps. Justin predicts that the FinOps space is on the verge of a new era, with potential advancements and disruptions from existing vendors and new startups. Ryan expressed his anticipation for a breakthrough in AI-generated data enrichment, which he believes will significantly impact business decision-making by providing more complete data and enabling large-scale optimizations.
Great news! Azure Virtual Network encryption is now in public preview. With this feature, you can encrypt traffic between Virtual Machines and Virtual Machine Scale Sets in the same virtual network, as well as between regionally and globally peered virtual networks. This upgrade enhances the already-existing encryption in transit capabilities in Azure and is currently available in select regions.
Our hosts discussed “shifting down” in software development, which involves testing earlier in the development cycle. This saves time and money, while “shifting left” improves communication between developers and testers. The hosts find “shifting down” intriguing and suggest using managed services. Justin supports “shifting left” and “shifting down,” while Ryan emphasizes the importance of collaboration and versatility. Overall, the discussion focuses on the value of both approaches.
To know more about the different testing discussed this week. Check out the full podcast.
