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In this conversation, Amit Saar shares his journey from software engineering at Microsoft to founding OpenOps. He focuses on the challenges and solutions in FinOps. He highlights the need for automation, accountability, and balancing innovation with governance in managing cloud costs. 

Amit points out the fatigue that engineering managers face due to overwhelming demands. He stresses the need for better tools and practices to streamline FinOps processes. The discussion also covers the challenges of automating FinOps, the role of no-code platforms, and the importance of community engagement through open sourcing.

Topics include the fragmentation of systems in enterprises and the advantages of a no-code approach for automation. Amit discusses monetization strategies for sustaining an open-source model. The conversation wraps up with practical advice on getting started with OpenOps.

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In this episode, Stephen Old and Frank Contrepois discuss the latest updates in cloud FinOps. With news from AWS, Google and Azure, including enhanced computing capabilities, database updates, and pricing changes.

For once there are also some sustainability news. That makes me happy!

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• We discussed the challenges of working with time series data, particularly in the context of machine learning and AI, highlighting the complexity and the need for automation in feature engineering. 
  
  
• The importance of balancing accuracy and complexity in model creation was emphasized, with a focus on avoiding overfitting and ensuring models remain effective in real-world applications. 
  
  
• The potential integration of business context data, such as sales data, with cloud consumption data to enhance anomaly detection and forecasting models was proposed. 
  
  
• The discussion touched on the economic value of anomaly detection, with a focus on proving that early detection can lead to significant cost savings. 
  
  
• The target audience for the anomaly detection system was identified as FinOps managers, who would use the system to manage cloud-related financial topics and coordinate with engineers to address anomalies. 
  
  

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January 2025 FinOps news.

Instances/Compute

• https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/announcing-smaller-machine-types-for-a3-high-vms - The A3 Ultra machine type is available in the following region and zone: St. Ghislain, Belgium, Europe - europe-west1-b
• https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/first-google-axion-processor-c4a-now-ga-with-titanium-ssd - Google Axion Processor-based C4A VMs with Titanium SSD are now generally available. Part of our general-purpose machine family, these instances come with up to 6 TiB of Titanium SSD disks. Titanium SSD is our latest generation of Local SSD. It uses Titanium I/O offload processing and offers enhanced SSD security, performance, and management.
• Compute Engine - Generally available: Managed instance groups (MIGs) let you create pools of suspended and stopped virtual machine (VM) instances. You can manually suspend and stop VMs in a MIG to save on costs, or use suspended and stopped pools to speed up scale out operations of your MIG. For more information, see About suspending and stopping VMs in a MIG.

Data/DBs/AI

• Azure OpenAI provisioned reservations (June - but not sure we mentioned it)

With the introduction of 1-month and 1-year Provisioned Reservations, businesses that commit to using Azure OpenAI on a scale can enjoy substantial discounts compared to the standard pay-as-you-go pricing. You can manage these reservations in Cost analysis in the same way as any other reservation.

For further details on how to purchase and manage these reservations, please refer to the article below: 

Save costs with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service Provisioned Reservations  

Storage

• https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/01/amazon-s3-metadata-generally-available 
• Generally available: Azure NetApp Files now supports minimum volume size of 50 GiB.
• Generally Available: Azure Files provisioned v2 billing model for HDD (Standard) - (Added to Roadmap 8th Jan 2025 - but released in October 24) The provisioned v2 model for Azure Files HDD (standard) pairs predictability of total cost of ownership with flexibility, allowing you to create a file share that meets your exact storage and performance requirements. Provisioned v2 shares enable independent provisioning of storage, IOPS, and throughput. In addition to predictable pricing and flexible provisioning, provisioned v2 also enables increased scale and performance, up to 256 TiB, 50,000 IOPS, and 5 GiB/sec of throughput; and per share monitoring. Provisioned v2 is generally available in a subset of regions. For the current list of available regions, see provisioned v2 availability.

Visibility (Billing conductor - Tags - cost categories)

• New fields for cost allocation (Enterprise Agreement customers)
  
  

You can use different le

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In this chat, Frank, Stephen, and Anthony share their thoughts on how cloud computing and AI have evolved from 2024 to 2025. 

They discuss the growth in the GPU market and how views on cloud versus on-premises solutions have changed. They also talk about the quality and performance of AI models and consider the environmental impact of AI. The group highlights the need for specialized AI models and the efficiency of the hardware used in AI applications. They wrap up with some insights into future trends in cloud instances and pricing.

In their chat, the speakers look at how AMD and Intel processors perform. They also discuss the future of ARM and Graviton technologies. Finally, they touch on the shifting world of cloud computing. They examine the competition among major cloud providers, such as AWS and Microsoft. They also highlight how important it is to be transparent in cloud operations, especially when comparing European and American providers. Here are the key takeaways.

• The GPU market saw a significant increase in providers in 2024.
• Many organisations are reconsidering their cloud strategies due to pricing and privacy concerns over AI.
• AI adoption is still in its early stages for many companies.
• Quality of AI models has plateaued, with a few major players dominating the market.
• Training models in the cloud may not be the best solution for everyone.
• Specialised AI models are becoming increasingly important.
• The environmental impact of AI and cloud computing is a growing concern.
• Efficiency in hardware usage is crucial for AI applications.
• Transparency in cloud provider operations varies significantly between vendors.
• The cloud market is stabilizing, with slower growth rates observed.
• Energy consumption and cost are critical factors.
• Benchmarking is essential for understanding cloud performance.
• The competitive landscape among cloud providers is shifting, with pricing diverging.

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A little late, but as they say, better late than never. You can provide feedback, ideas, proposals for interviews at send us an email at [email protected]

Have a fantastic 2025 and January

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In this episode, Frank and SteveO reflect on the year's developments in cloud computing, discussing significant updates from AWS,  Azure, and Google Cloud.

Thank you to all the listeners!!!

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In this episode, Frank and SteveO discuss the latest updates in cloud computing for October 2024, covering significant announcements from AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. They delve into new features, pricing changes, and innovations in cost management, data storage, and AI integration. The conversation also highlights insights from the recent FinOps XE conference, emphasizing the evolving landscape of FinOps and sustainability in cloud operations.

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This month, we talk with Dvir and discuss integrating engineering principles into FinOps to manage cloud costs effectively. We stress proactive cost management, trust in recommendations, and understanding business context. We also cover the challenges of cost observability, utilized waste, and monitoring resources.

Some takeaways

• Proactive involvement in cost management leads to better outcomes.
• Language and communication are crucial in discussing costs with engineers.
• Trust in recommendations is essential for effective FinOps practices.
• Understanding the business context is key to identifying waste.
• Maturity in organizational policies enhances accountability.
• Cost observability is a critical aspect of FinOps.
• Engineers should be made responsible for their resource usage.
• Effective communication can drive better financial decisions in tech

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In this episode, Frank and SteveO celebrate four years of their podcast while discussing the latest advancements in Cloud FinOps, including Amazon's new EC2 Graviton instances, Azure's confidential VMs, and cost management innovations. They explore dynamic scaling in cloud services, AWS Healthomics, and the importance of sustainability in computing. The conversation also touches on SMS innovations, SageMaker customization, application rationalization, and automated complaint rate recommendations in SES, providing listeners with a comprehensive overview of the current cloud landscape.

• The podcast celebrates its four-year anniversary, highlighting its growth and listener engagement.
• everything else is noise :D