Canonical has launched the ‘hardened’ premium version of the open source Ubuntu Linux kernel on Google Cloud with new security features.
Ubuntu Pro will be available to all Google Cloud users, allowing for instant access to all security patches covering thousands of open source apps and critical compliance features.
This premium version of the open source Linux OS focuses on enterprise and production use, providing developers and admins with secured DevOps environments.
“The availability of Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud will offer our enterprise customers the additional security and compliance services needed for their mission-critical workloads,” said VP and GM for compute at Google Cloud, June Yang.
“We needed more time to comprehensively test and migrate our Ubuntu 16.04 LTS workloads to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, which would mean stretching beyond the standard maintenance timelines for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS,” Kartik Gupta, engineering manager for CI/CD & FinOps at tech company Gojek, said in a press release. “With Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud, we now can postpone this, and in moving our 16.04 workloads to Ubuntu Pro, we benefit from its live kernel patching and improved security coverage for our key open source components.”
With Ubuntu Pro, users can also utilise certified components to allow operating environments under various compliance regimes, including GDPR and PCI alongside all standard optimisations and security updates.
The two platforms have worked together on Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud, which serves as a more secure, hardened and cost-effective DevOps environment that aims to boost customers’ cloud transformation efforts.
“Since 2014, Canonical has been providing Ubuntu for Google Cloud customers. We continuously expand security coverage, great operational efficiency, and native compatibility with Google Cloud features,” said Alex Gallagher, VP of Cloud GTM at Canonical.
