UPDATED 08:02 EST / DECEMBER 25 2012

This Week in the Cloud: Big Launches and One Services Buy

Alfresco, MicroCloud and Corona Labs all got their share of the limelight this week with new product announcements and a big EMEA buy.

We’re kicking off with Alfresco, which made its flagship file management service available for Amazon Web Services users last Wednesday. The open-source solution now offers improved support for metadata and automatic file allocation, in addition to integration with Amazon’s native monitoring capabilities. These features are coupled with Alfresco’s open architecture, which makes it possible to tailor the platform to specific use cases.

Also this week, a Seattle-based startup called 2nd Watch emerged from stealth with a new solution that makes it easier for large organizations to track AWS billing.  2W Insight is  combating cloud sprawl by displaying real-time usage data in a centralized, visualized dashboard that breaks down this information to easily definable categories. This kind of technology can prove to be a big asset for decision makers that have to convert user trends into actions, all of which affect their workers and the bottom line.

Infochimps is the third company that jumped on the cloud bandwagon this week, with a specialized solution for large organizations that want to make use of their big data. The vendor’s new PaaS runs on a network of data centers operated by its partners, and aims to eliminate the challenges associated with migration information from slow, legacy environments to a virtualized environment.

Finally, mobile software developer Corona Labs announced the acquisition of Game Minion. The Dubai-based startup offers cloud services that Corona will offer up to fellow developers that leverage its SDK in their apps. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the two companies did disclose that an integrated solution is expected to launch within a few months.


Since you’re here …

… We’d like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content.

If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.