--- title: 'Cloud Chatter: August 2016' description: 'Welcome to the latest issue of Cloud Chatter. This month, don’t miss: An overview of our widely applauded universal “snap” packages launch A fantastic free trial offer for using Ubuntu on POWER8 with IBM’s Softlayer A story about a leading middle eastern telco launching an NFV cloud using OpenStack and Juju Steps on how to […]' url: https://canonical.com/blog/cloud-chatter-august-2016?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical "More about Canonical") 3 August 2016 # Cloud Chatter: August 2016 [cloud](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/cloud) [IBM](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/ibm) [newsletter](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/newsletter) [Telco](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/telco) [Telecommunications](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/telecommunications) --- Share the article Welcome to the latest issue of Cloud Chatter. This month, don’t miss: * An overview of our widely applauded universal “snap” packages launch * A fantastic free trial offer for using Ubuntu on POWER8 with IBM’s Softlayer * A story about a leading middle eastern telco launching an NFV cloud using OpenStack and Juju * Steps on how to leverage LXD and ZFS with Juju 2.0 * A webinar co-hosted with Riftware on “NFV Orchestration Accelerated by Application Modelling” * Our round-up of top blog posts and industry news ## New ‘Snap’ packages transform the installation and management of cloud and server applications Developers from multiple Linux distributions and companies have announced that they are collaborating on the [“snap” universal Linux package format](http://ubunt.eu/fzHRmp), enabling a single binary package to work perfectly and securely on any Linux-based system including cloud and server applications. Installing Jenkins or Cassandra, for example, becomes a single-command exercise on any distribution with snaps. The Snap format has been welcomed by Linux application vendors. It is a tremendous simplification to publish a snap rather than manage diverse package formats and security update mechanisms across many Linux distributions. Canonical is working with our vendor eco-system at [snapcraft.io](http://ubunt.eu/3NSOlz) to provide a single publication mechanism for any software in any Linux environment. If you’d like to discuss how you can use snaps to package your cloud and server applications, don’t hesitate to [contact us](http://ubunt.eu/i7c6n6). ## Try Ubuntu on POWER8 for FREE for 30 days Canonical is collaborating with SoftLayer to offer a 30-day free trial to use the Ubuntu that you love on POWER8! Certified Ubuntu images provide first class security and quality assurance to guarantee the best possible experience on the industry’s leading clouds. This offer ends soon so don’t delay! [Get Promo Code](http://ubunt.eu/E9qLzX) ## In other newsEtisalat builds first NFV telco cloud in the Middle East on Ubuntu OpenStack Etisalat, the Middle East’s leading telecoms provider, has launched its first live Network Function Virtualization telco cloud in Abu Dhabi. The NFV-based telco infrastructure has been built with Quanta servers, Arista switches and Canonical’s Ubuntu OpenStack, a multi-vendor combination integrated for production for the first time ever globally. [Learn more](http://ubunt.eu/JViJXh) Webinar: NFV Orchestration Accelerated by Application Modeling Watch Canonical’s Bill Bauman and Matt Harper, RIFT.io’s Chief Development Officer, discuss how Juju has helped RIFT.ware, a standards-based orchestrator, leverage a model-driven framework to support multiple formats and scale to support massive numbers of VNFs and VMs. [Watch on-demand webinar](http://ubunt.eu/9sMFrQ) Juju 2.0 user interface redesign Juju has been given a brand-new look that makes it even easier to navigate and configure services than ever before. Juju 2.0’s more intuitive integration with the Charms Store makes it simple to select , connect, scale and deploy charms and bundles into a public cloud, OpenStack or on bare metal. [Learn more about the Juju 2.0 UI design process](http://ubunt.eu/EK6d9e) How developers can leverage LXD & ZFS in Juju 2.0 One of the best things about using Juju locally on your laptop is the speed at which you can iterate locally and then push out to a real cloud. In the upcoming Juju 2.0 you can use LXD and the ZFS for an even faster performing development experience. [Learn more about Juju, LXD and ZFS](http://ubunt.eu/9EDbXb) Meet the Juju community at the next Charmer Summit We’re proud to announce that we’re ready to have our third Juju Charmers Summit conference, taking place September 12-14 in Pasadena, California, USA. All our charming experts are gathering in one place to help spread charming knowledge and technical networking. Attendees will have access to experts in charming OpenStack, NFV, Big Data, Containers (Swarm, Kubernetes, and Mesos), and Benchmarking. Attendance is free for anyone who wants to participate. [Join us in Pasadena!](http://summit.juju.solutions/) Top blog posts from Insights * [Vendors embrace Juju model-driven operations](https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/06/06/vendors-embrace-juju-model-driven-operations/) * [Special report: Low latency and real-time kernels for telco and NFV](https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/06/15/special-report-low-latency-and-real-time-kernels-for-telco-and-nfv/) * [What’s the easiest way to start using big software? Meet Conjure-up](https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/06/09/conjure-up-an-introduction/) * [A New Research Cloud on Ubuntu OpenStack](https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/06/20/a-new-research-cloud-on-ubuntu-openstack/) * [Apache Bigtop and Juju: a charming approach to big data](https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/06/07/announcing-charms-for-apache-bigtop-big-data/) * [Canonical and Pivotal Collaborate to Deliver Cloud Native Platform](https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/07/06/canonical-and-pivotal-collaborate-to-deliver-cloud-native-platform/) * [Howto launch your own Snap store](https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/06/24/howto-host-your-own-snap-store/) Ubuntu Cloud in the news * [Canonical and e-shelter announce managed OpenStack private cloud initiative](https://thestack.com/data-centre/2016/07/06/canonical-and-e-shelter-hosted-bootstack/) * [IBM’s SoftLayer cloud gets certified Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS images](http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2463679/ibms-softlayer-cloud-gets-certified-ubuntu-linux-1604-lts-images) * [6WIND upgrades NFV platform on 40 Gbps Advantech servers](http://www.financial-news.co.uk/35667/2016/06/6wind-upgrades-nfv-platform-on-40-gbps-advantech-server/) * [Removing Operational Friction Will Free Big Data To Do Big Things, Says Mark Shuttleworth](https://www.linux.com/news/removing-operational-friction-will-free-big-data-do-big-things-says-mark-shuttleworth) * [Canonical changes the game by announcing universal snap packages](http://www.techrepublic.com/article/canonical-changes-the-game-by-announcing-universal-snap-packages/) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### Building new revenue streams: 3 strategic cloud opportunities for telcos in 2026](https://canonical.com/blog/new-telco-cloud-opportunity) PWC claimed the ‘fundamental challenge’ behind slowing growth is that telecom’s ‘core products and services’ are ‘becoming commodities.’ The way forward lies in modernizing and... [Isobel Kate Maxwell](https://canonical.com/blog/author/iso-maxwell) 10 February 2026 [### A decade of Ubuntu on IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE](https://canonical.com/blog/a-decade-of-ubuntu-on-ibm-z-and-ibm-linuxone) This year we celebrate a decade of Ubuntu Server support on the s390x architecture: marking a long-standing collaboration between Canonical and IBM that began at LinuxCon 2015.... 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