Monthly Archives: February 2022

Russia-Ukraine crisis: What are NATO spy planes doing to keep tabs on the Russians? – Sky News

Posted: February 11, 2022 at 6:05 am

Spy planes are conducting missions to track Russian movements, which might include listening to Russian soldiers' phone calls home, according to one expert.

The planes are equipped with devices that allow them to collect signals sent from Russian bases and to intercept communications.

Sky News analysis of flight tracking data from a typical day in recent weeks shows that a host of NATO and Swedish planes are monitoring key Russian positions.

Scroll through the maps below to see what aircraft movements on 25 January - represented by yellow dots - can tell us:

Two tracked the coastline of Crimea - one an RAF plane that departed from Lincolnshire and another from a US base in Sicily.

Three maritime patrol aircraft - "sub-hunters" - departed RAF Lossiemouth earlier in the day.

One of which flew for over 5 hours east with its transponder recording intermittently. It circled a position near the Baltic Sea where Russian naval vessels were believed to be close by.

A US Navy aircraft departed an airbase in Spain in the afternoon and flew along the Portuguese coast.

It turned off its transponder for an hour, but it was picked up again near the position of three Russian ships making their way into the Mediterranean.

Two more US flights departed an airbase in Lithuania in the afternoon and moved along the border of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The RAF plane that was near Crimea earlier can also be seen coming close to the area, and taking an interest in the Belarusian border, on its return journey.

On 25 January there were at least 10 US, UK, and Swedish reconnaissance flights that took place.

Two tracked the coastline of Crimea - one an RAF plane that departed from Lincolnshire and another from a US base in Sicily.

Three maritime patrol aircraft - "sub-hunters" - departed RAF Lossiemouth earlier in the day.

One of which flew for over 5 hours east with its transponder recording intermittently. It circled a position near the Baltic Sea where Russian naval vessels were believed to be close by.

A US Navy aircraft departed an airbase in Spain in the afternoon and flew along the Portuguese coast.

It turned off its transponder for an hour, but it was picked up again near the position of three Russian ships making their way into the Mediterranean.

Two more US flights departed an airbase in Lithuania in the afternoon and moved along the border of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The RAF plane that was near Crimea earlier can also be seen coming close to the area, and taking an interest in the Belarusian border, on its return journey.

What are the planes doing?

The aircraft are equipped with sensors that collect information on the electronic and radio signals being emitted in the areas they are monitoring.

Professor Mark Westwood, head of the centre of aeronautics at Cranfield University, said some of the aircraft typically "fly along a border and image off to the side, building up quite a detailed 3D picture of what's operating there".

Analysts stationed on the plane and back at base can then assess the information gathered and turn it into "intelligence" about Russian movements and capabilities.

The position of the planes also helps reveal where NATO countries are interested in and the position of Russian warships - a circling aircraft at sea suggests they are interested in something at the location.

Why all the activity?

The flurry of reconnaissance flights over recent weeks has coincided with a Russian troop build-up on the Ukrainian border.

It is likely that the spy planes are feeding in more specific information about this build-up, such as the type of equipment the Russians are using.

But it is not just about equipment.

Some of the planes are capable of intercepting voice and text communications.

According to Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at The International Institute for Strategic Studies, this includes "listening to chatter and not just the official stuff. It could be troops phoning their boyfriend or girlfriend. It's why there are protocols in place to not phone home, but people don't always adhere to that. It's human nature to want to ring home".

Are we seeing everything?

These flights are only recorded on flight tracking databases because their transponders are turned on. The military could turn them off if they wanted, so there may be more that are not being picked up.

However, given the amount of reconnaissance aircraft countries like the UK are known to have, Mr Barrie thinks we are probably seeing most, but not all, of the flights taking place.

And there is a reason for making this activity public. It sends a clear message that Russia is being watched.

But the activity will not all be one way. Russia, and many other countries, have reconnaissance planes of their own.

As Mr Barrie said: "Everyone's listening to everyone else, on one level or another".

Digital Production: Ganesh RaoAdditional flight tracking: Amelia Smith

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Cloud computing giant Salesforce is working on an NFT platform – CryptoSlate

Posted: at 6:05 am

Salesforce, the worlds largest cloud-based software company, is reportedly working on its own NFT product, called the NFT Cloud.

Salesforces CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor revealed the plans to the companys employees during a sales kickoff on Wednesday, sources close to the matter revealed.

The companys co-CEOs shared their vision for an NFT cloud service that would enable artists to create content and release it onto NFT marketplaces. People that reportedly attended the meeting told CNBC that they referenced the NFT collection Pepsi released last December, saying that the Mic Drop collection is an example of a good foray into the industry.

NFTs issued through Salesforces NFT cloud platform could be released to marketplaces like OpenSea, where they could access billions of dollars worth of liquidity.

According to CNBCs source, Salesforce also said that it could integrate the tool into its own ecosystem and enable all of the NFT transactions to be more easily managed. A marketplace owned and operated by Salesforce would then remove the need to have the platform connected to OpenSea and potentially transfer all that trading volume directly to Salesforce.

And while the cloud computing giants foray into NFTs is the first time the company has dipped its fingers in the new asset class, comments and actions from Salesforces top executives hinted at this months ago.

Mathew Sweezy, the director of market strategy at Salesforce, said that 2022 sill see pioneering brands explore adding additional utility through NFTs.

To unlock their full potential, brands are going to have to start creating utility via the token, Sweezey wrote in a blog post. In 2022, youre going to hear a lot more about NFTs, and there will be winners and losers.

Sweezey said the latest project from Time magazine was a great example of how NFTs can be used beyond the novelty phase. Last spring, Time released TIMEPieces, a collection of NFTs giving owners access to magazine content and events.

Salesforces interest in the NFT space stems back to the release of TIMEPieces, as the magazine is owned by Marc Benioff and his wife. In November, Time established a partnership with Galaxy Digital to add Ethereum (ETH) to its balance sheet, making it the first leading media company to do so.

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Why Putin sees the US, NATO and Ukraine as a threat | The Strategist – The Strategist

Posted: at 6:05 am

Why has Russias President Vladimir Putin become so aggressive in his attitude to the US, NATO and Ukraine? In this article, I begin by examining the disintegration of the former Soviet Union and how it is still seen in the Kremlin as a great humiliation. Then I turn to the enlargement of NATO, and how Putin claims to see Ukraine and Russia as one people and why he is risking war. I conclude by sketching out how Putin sees opportunities in a friendship with China that has no limits and in which China opposes further enlargement of NATO and supports Russias proposals to create long-term, legally binding security guarantees in Europe.

I need to stress at the outset that by trying to understand Moscows hostile stance and the way it is currently threatening to use military force against Ukraine, I do not endorse Moscows belligerent attitude or the dictatorial role that Putin is playing in what is now a potentially very dangerous situation for peace in Europe and, indeed, globally.

If we are to attempt to understand why Russia is behaving in this potentially very dangerous manner, we need to begin by recalling what happened to the Soviet superpower as it collapsed in 1991 and how that calamity continues to affect current strategic thinking in Moscow. Putin recalls the Soviet collapse as a time when gross injustice was done to the Russian people: It was only when Crimea ended up as part of a different country that Russia realised that it had not been simply robbed, but plundered. The UK ambassador to Moscow from 1988 to 1992, Rodric Braithwaite, observes that the disintegration of the USSR at the end of 1991 was a moment of triumph for the West, but for the Russians it brought national humiliation, domestic chaos, great poverty, and even famine.

Former CIA director and US defence secretary Robert Gates recently stated that almost everything Putin does at home and abroad these days is rooted in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which for him marked the collapse of the four-century-old Russian Empire and Russias position as a great power. Gates remarks that Putins current actions however deplorable, are understandable. Since becoming president in 1999, Putin has been focused on returning Russia to its historical role as a major power and its historical policy of creating a buffer of subservient states on its peripherythe so-called near abroad.

Readers who wish to consult the definitive account of the USSRs collapse are strongly advised to read the just published authoritative book called Collapse: the fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav Zubok, a professor of international history at the London School of Economics. Braithwaite describes it as a deeply informed account of how the Soviet Union fell apart and how we have once again come to the brink of a major armed stand-off between Russia and the West.

Zubok concludes that the speed and ease with which the Soviet central structures collapsed baffled even the most experienced Western observers. He believes Mikhail Gorbachevs leadership, character and beliefs constituted a major factor in the Soviet Unions self-destruction. His fumbling policies of reform generated total chaos that legitimised runaway separatism in the Baltics and, ultimately, in the core Slavic territories of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

In the summer of 1991, the expectation of a new Marshall Plan among the Soviet elites became almost universal. But many in Washington wanted to break up the Soviet Union for security reasons. Treasury secretary Nicholas Brady advised President George H.W. Bush that Americas strategic priority was to see the Soviets become a third-rate power, which is what we want. During the 1990s, Zubok claims that 7080% of Russians lived in poverty with the old Soviet social safety net gone and with rampant crime and mafia-like rule in most towns and regions.

Regarding the prospect of the incorporation of a democratising Russia into a larger Europe and NATO, the view was that the post-Soviet geopolitical space was too huge and unpredictable for integration within the Western orbit. The enlargement of NATO took place quickly, because the newly independent Baltic countries and Poland wanted to be free of the Russian military menace. Boris Yeltsin wanted Russia to join NATO, but the new US administration under Bill Clinton chose to offer Russia only a partnership with the alliance because the general view in Washington was that Russia was simply too big to fully belong to NATO.

Yeltsin warned that NATOs enlargement could lead to a new division in Europe. The US secretary of state, James Baker, reassured Gorbachev that NATO would not shift one inch eastward from its present position once it had safely taken in a reunited Germany. Those words were never recorded in any mutually agreed formula.

Neither was the issue of Crimea raised when the leaders of what became the new countries called the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus, met in secret in the Viskuli hunting lodge near Minsk on 7 December 1991. It was there that they agreed to the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. According to Zuboks book, before Yeltsins departure from Moscow his adviser, Galina Starovoitova, suggested he offer the Ukrainian leadership an option of negotiated changes to the borders of Ukraine after a moratorium of three to five years. She was concerned about Crimea.

This option would have helped to placate Russian public opinion and leave open the possibility of settling the territorial issue according to international law. Yeltsin, however, didnt raise this issue in the Viskuli negotiations. The subsequent attitude of his state secretary, Gennady Burbulis, was that all this could be resolved by skilful diplomacy. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Turning now to the NATO issue, Braithwaites view is that, under relentless US pressure, NATOs borders have advanced until they are within spitting distance of Russia and Ukraine. That is how its seen in Moscow, but it is ridiculous in my opinion to suggest that current NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland present any realistic military threat to such a powerful country as todays Russia.

Putin, of course, takes an entirely different point of view. He believes that the Americans conspired to break up his country and encourage the creation of a separate country called Ukraine. We are now in a situation where the animosity between Moscow and Washington over NATOs future and the existence of an independent Ukraine has become central to the future of peace in Europe. As Gates observes, Putins embrace of the strategy of securing Russias near abroad is seen in his actions in Belarus, Moldova, Transnistria, Georgia, the 2020 ArmeniaAzerbaijan conflict, Kazakhstan and nowmost dramaticallyUkraine.

Putin regards Ukraine as a critical security risk for Moscowa dagger pointed at the Slavic heart of Russia. Gates believes that Putin has overplayed his hand on Ukraine because he finds himself in a situation where Russian success is defined as either a change of government in Kyivwith the successor regime bending the knee to Moscowor Russian conquest of the country. Resolving this serious threat peacefully is going to be an immense challenge to the resolve and unity of the Western alliance. Already, Germany is looking like a key weak link because of its dependence on Russia for half of its natural gas supplies.

Putin is proclaiming that Ukraines membership of NATO is a redline issue for Moscow and that he wants written guarantees from the US that Ukraine NATO membership will never be allowed. In July 2021, he allegedly wrote a 7,000-word article titled On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians. In it, he asserts that Russians and Ukrainians are one peoplea single whole. He argues that modern Ukraine is entirely the product of the Soviet era. We know and remember well that it was shapedfor a significant parton the lands of historical Russia. He goes on to claim that the US and EU countries systematically pushed Ukraine into a dangerous geopolitical game aimed at turning Ukraine into a barrier between Europe and Russia, a springboard against Russia.

Putin asserts that what he terms the formation of an ethnically pure Ukrainian state, aggressive towards Russia is comparable in its consequence to the use of weapons of mass destruction against us. He ominously concludes: And we will never allow our historical territories and people close to us living there to be used against Russia. And to those who will undertake such an attempt, I would like to say this way they will destroy their own country. So, in effect, there is Putins declaration of war if the US and NATO do not for ever ban Ukraine from NATO membership.

But there is a further potentially dangerous international complication. As I have argued in ASPI publications over the past two years or more, Russia and China are increasingly looking like a de facto alliance. Last week, Putin visited China and met with President Xi Jinping. In a joint statement, the two leaders agreed that friendship between their countries has no limits; there are no forbidden areas of cooperation.

The two sides specifically agreed to oppose further enlargement of NATO, and the Chinese side proclaimed that it supports the proposals put forward by the Russian Federation to create long-term legally binding security guarantees in Europe. This is Chinas most explicit support to date of Moscows confrontation with the West over NATO membership.

The joint statement of this meeting between the leaders of the worlds two major authoritarian powers includes serious concern about AUKUS and strongly condemns the decision to initiate cooperation in the field of nuclear-powered submarines. The statement marks an increasingly serious joint confrontation with the West. What we are witnessing now is Beijings encouragement of Moscows hostility against the US over NATO membership.

Xi will now be closely scrutinising how Washington reacts to Moscows military threats against Ukraine and the implications for Beijings military intimidation of Taiwan.

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How Cloud Computing is Reshaping the Agriculture Industry – Startup.info

Posted: at 6:05 am

Companies have an option of using IT infrastructures without building, maintaining, and even owning them. They can do that through pay-as-you-go services from cloud providers. Some of the services they can access through this option are storage, computing capacity, and databases. These possibilities were not initially available for small and medium-level businesses.

Agriculture is one of the sectors that has benefited from cloud computing applications. This is an appropriate marriage between the latest invention and the oldest sector. Technology is crucial in agriculture because of increased population, limited farmland, unfertile soil, and climate change.

The article highlights how cloud computing has transformed agriculture.

Experts collect data on crops that farmers have been growing in recent years to provide them with the insights that guide them on what to plant next.

They also get weather data of a specific region and weather forecasts for future periods. Farmers can make crop-related decisions based on the cloud computing data they receive.

Analysts provide soil profiles as part of soil information. They use historical patterns of soil to forecast future trends. Soil experts evaluate soil acidity and alkalinity, changes in the soil quality and composition. So cloud computing is used to store and analyze soil information.

The growth of different crops is controlled in various regions and at regular intervals. Such a process provides a comparison of the present growth trends and the previous growth patterns. The analytics is applicable to stored data in order to avail growth tracking insights.

Authorities use cloud computing to store farmers data, which includes crop type, lands, yield, and required help. Such information is useful for future strategies and better resource allocation.

Further, the technology provides solutions to the common challenges farmers encounter. This is made possible by the quick response time from experts. They can provide solutions through cloud computing platforms such as Telemedicine. On the other hand, farmers can access these solutions through their websites and apps.

For many years farmers in the rural areas have not been able to sell their produce directly to the consumer because of middlemen, which has led to farmers being exploited in the process. However, technology such as cloud technology helps farmers to sell directly to retailers and consumers. This is possible due to a cloud computing-enabled agricultural management information system. The web-based information system provides farmers with up-to-date information about the market, sowing crops, weather, fertilizer, and much more.

Further, experts and scientists in the agriculture research station can now share their recommendations and discoveries about conventional agricultural techniques and fertilizer in the cloud.

Cloud-based technology is still developing, but so far, it is helping farmers nurture their crops the same way doctors treat their patients. Instead of viewing farmers as a homogenous field of crops, they will see an individual plant.

Experts recommend using cloud-based mobile applications, machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and other automated driving technologies. Indeed, data is an integral part of this landscape, and the goal is to help farmers double their yields and farm better.

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Filings buzz in the aerospace and defence sector: 31% decrease in cloud computing mentions in Q3 of 2021 – Army Technology

Posted: at 6:05 am

Mentions of cloud computing within the filings of companies in the aerospace and defence sector fell 31% between the second and third quarters of 2021.

In total, the frequency of sentences related to cloud computing between October 2020 and September 2021 was 94% higher than in 2016 when GlobalData, from whom our data for this article is taken, first began to track the key issues referred to in company filings.

When companies in the aerospace and defence sector publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other filings, GlobalData analyses the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to disruptive forces facing companies in the coming years. Cloud computing is one of these topics - companies that excel and invest in these areas are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

To assess whether cloud computing is featuring more in the summaries and strategies of companies in the aerospace and defence sector, two measures were calculated. Firstly, we looked at the percentage of companies which have mentioned cloud computing at least once in filings during the past twelve months - this was 67% compared to 28% in 2016. Secondly, we calculated the percentage of total analysed sentences that referred to cloud computing.

Of the 20 biggest employers in the aerospace and defence sector, Thales SA was the company which referred to cloud computing the most between October 2020 and September 2021. GlobalData identified 47 cloud-related sentences in the France-based company's filings - 0.3% of all sentences. Leonardo SpA mentioned cloud computing the second most - the issue was also referred to in 0.3% of sentences in the company's filings. Other top employers with high cloud mentions included General Dynamics Corp, BAE Systems Plc and Leidos Holdings Inc.

Across all companies in the aerospace and defence sector the filing published in the third quarter of 2021 which exhibited the greatest focus on cloud computing came from Bharat Electronics Ltd. Of the document's 3,465 sentences, five (0.1%) referred to cloud computing.

This analysis provides an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on cloud computing and how important the issue is considered within the aerospace and defence sector, but it also has limitations and should be interpreted carefully. For example, a company mentioning cloud computing more regularly is not necessarily proof that they are utilising new techniques or prioritising the issue, nor does it indicate whether the company's ventures into cloud computing have been successes or failures.

In the last quarter, companies in the aerospace and defence sector based in Western Europe were most likely to mention cloud computing with 0.11% of sentences in company filings referring to the issue. In contrast, companies with their headquarters in the United States mentioned cloud computing in just 0.08% of sentences.

Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Detection for Light Armoured Vehicles and Stand-Alone Protection

Military-Approved Ruggedised Products Including Amazon Cases and 19in Racks

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Talking Europe – NATO will not get involved militarily in Ukraine, says alliances deputy chief – FRANCE 24

Posted: at 6:05 am

Issued on: 04/02/2022 - 18:19Modified: 04/02/2022 - 18:22

With concern still high over a potential war between Russia and Ukraine, NATO's deputy secretary general spoke to FRANCE 24. Mircea Geoana told our Europe editor Catherine Nicholson: "NATO will not get involved militarily in Ukraine we support Ukraine in many other ways, individual allies support Ukraine.And in order to deter Russia from doing that ... is to really demonstrate to the leadership in the Kremlin that in a cost-benefit analysis, an additional military intervention in Ukraine is a net loss for Russia."

On the latest mobilisation of Russian troops and weapons in Ukraine and Belarus, Geoana described the movements as "suspicious and very unusual"."We are seeing a further mobilisation of Russian military presence in and around Ukraine, in Belarus, in a suspicious and very unusual way. Of course you do not know the real intentions of President Putin and what he will decide or not. But we are seeing with growing concern, further mobilisation of Russian presence in and around Ukraine," he said.

On Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand that NATO rule out Ukraine ever joining the military alliance, the deputy secretary general toldFRANCE 24: "Nobody says that Ukraine will join NATO any time soon. Ukraine has lots of things to reform domestically. And also we need NATO to have consensus today we don't have consensus for eventual membership of Ukraine into NATO. But having said that, no third party has a veto right on a decision that is sovereign of the country, and the organisation they want to join. So it's up to us."

Finally, after Moscow accused the United States of trying to incite a war by moving NATO troops "to Russia's doorstep", Geoana contested that it's Russia's own actions that have pushed NATO to deploy troops and weapons in the region: "NATO didn't have any military presence in the Eastern flank before 2014, after the illegal annexation of Crimea. [Russia] want to have Ukraine in their sphere of influence. What's the result of the continuous war in the Donbass and the annexation of Crimea and the threat today against Ukraine? Ten years ago, only 20 percentof Ukrainian people wanted to join NATO and the EU, today we have 60-something percent. So in a way we hope that Russia will realise that they get the opposite of their intentions."

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3 Top Cloud Stocks to Buy in February – The Motley Fool

Posted: at 6:05 am

According to one source, it is estimated that the global cloud computing market could exceed $900 billion by 2026. Even if this estimate is a bit aggressive, there is no question that the market is vast and growing fast.

Some major players dominate the sector, but there are also niche players. This assortment offers investors a massive opportunity and a plethora of options to play this red-hot market, as these three stocks show.

Image source: Getty Images.

When most people think of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), they likely think of the incredible e-commerce business and Amazon Prime, but its cloud business is increasingly the key to its success. Instead of seeing Amazon as an e-commerce business with a cloud segment attached, many investors are starting to see that it is actually the other way around. And the recent earnings release illustrates this point.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is its cloud computing business, and the segment has grown from $35 billion in net sales in 2019 to over $62 billion in 2021 -- a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 33%.

The segment's growth is also accelerating. Year over year, revenue growth for 2021 was 37%. Even better, the segment is highly profitable. In 2021, AWS produced an operating margin of 30%, as shown below.

Data source: Amazon. Chart by author.

Amazon's total sales were $470 billion in 2021, an increase of 22%. So the company still derives most of its revenue from sources other than AWS. However, AWS is much more profitable than the rest of the business. In fact, this segment was responsible for a whopping 74% of operating income in 2021, despite accounting for only 13% of sales.

AWS is a terrific reason to be bullish on Amazon stock for years to come.

Like Amazon, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL) is a titan in the cloud services industry. The company recently released its full-year 2021 earnings, and the results were spectacular across the board. Total revenue grew to $258 billion, a 41% increase over 2020. Results for 2020 were dampened by COVID-19's negative effect on advertising spending, so it is essential to keep this increase in context. Looking back to 2019, the CAGR in sales is still impressive at 26%. Diluted earnings per share in 2021 were equally remarkable at $112.20.

The Google Cloud segment is growing rapidly. Total cloud sales in 2021 reached $19.2 billion, up from $13.1 billion in 2020 and $8.9 billion in 2019. Unlike AWS, Google Cloud is not yet profitable, posting an operating loss of $3.1 billion in 2021. However, this loss narrowed significantly from 2020, which may indicate that the segment will scale to profitability soon. In the meantime, Alphabet has the advantage of its highly profitable advertising business to power its income.

The stock appears reasonably valued with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just over 25. As shown below, this is a lower P/E than it has traded for since the stock market's recovery from the March 2020 crash.

GOOG PE ratio. Data by YCharts.

Alphabet has also announced that the stock will have a 20-for-1 split in July. This is exciting news for investors who may find it challenging to accumulate shares due to their high price.

A burgeoning cloud segment and high-octane advertising business make it an excellent stock for long-term investors.

DigitalOcean Holdings (NYSE:DOCN) offers a chance for more adventurous investors to buy shares of a smaller, growing cloud enterprise. In many ways, DigitalOcean is everything that Google and Amazon are not.

Its target market is small to medium-size businesses, whereas Amazon and Google are geared more toward large corporations. Simplicity, straightforward pricing, and excellent customer service are how DigitalOcean seeks to separate itself from the pack. The company estimates that it will have a $116 billion addressable market by 2024 within its target market.

The company has experienced rapid growth in recent years, going from $203 million in annual revenue in 2018 to an estimated $427 million in fiscal 2021. This is a CAGR of over 28%. Along with this, DigitalOcean reports adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) that went from $39 million to $130 million in the same period. Perhaps most encouraging is that revenue growth is accelerating and is expected to hit 34% in 2021. The chart below shows the company's revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and revenue growth rate over the past several years.

Data source: DigitalOcean. Chart by author.

The stock has been decimated recently along with the general market sentiment away from growth stocks. This might offer long-term investors a compelling entry point. The stock currently trades over 55% down from its 52-week high. A small growth stock like DigitalOcean also carries more risk than megacaps like Amazon and Google, so investors should trade according to their risk tolerance.

The cloud computing business is booming, and should continue to do so for many years. Investors have several options to take advantage of this, including megacaps with wide-ranging services and niche providers that focus on small and mid-size companies. All three of the above stocks should serve long-term investors well over the next several years.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Vacancy Alert: Top Cloud Computing Jobs to Apply For in Feb 2022 – Analytics Insight

Posted: at 6:05 am

Cloud computing jobs are creating ample opportunities to gain experience in clouds

The global industries are adopting cloud computing for adopting digital transformation efficiently and effectively. There is no one in the tech world who has no knowledge about cloud computing as well as its types. Thus, aspiring techies and students are highly interested to work as cloud engineers, cloud architects, and many more. There are multiple jobs in cloud computing available in the global tech world at reputed companies with lucrative salary packages. Lets explore some of the top cloud computing jobs to apply for in February 2022.

Location: Malaga, Spain

Responsibilities: The technologist should compose a POC and MVP to validate ideas and act as an expert consultant leading cloud-native initiatives while producing relevant deliverables. It is necessary to serve as a cloud native evangelist, consult, as well as offer technical guidance on cloud-native solutions governance. There should be proper conduct of technical reviews of products to compare and evaluate applicability.

Qualifications: The candidate needs to have deep expertise in solution architecture and sufficient experience in the development of new solutions, service offerings, large-scale software development, Agile software development methodologies, and DevOps practices. There should be experienced with cloud computing as well as open-source solutions.

Click here to apply

Location: New York, USA

Responsibilities: The lead should drive the successful adoption as well as onboarding of Google Cloud to help customers realize the business value, create value for customers while building a joint plan with identified objectives. It is essential to develop strategic relationships while guiding IT executives to unlock the full value of the cloud.

Qualifications: There must be a Bachelors degree with 15 years of customer-facing experience and a Masters degree in a management or technical field with 20 years of experience. There should be hands-on experience with data center migration strategies and sufficient knowledge of the Google Cloud ecosystem.

Click here to apply

Location: Noida, India

Responsibilities: The engineer should leverage new Amazon and Azure technologies as well as advanced Adobe command and control systems to advance the next-gen cloud management solution. It is needed to develop and support the upgade systems for enterprise customers as well as cloud-hosted enterprise offerings.

Qualifications: There should be hands-on experience with cloud hosting, AWS, Linux, J2EE systems, and Enterprise mission-critical software including Adobe CQ.

Click here to apply

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Responsibilities: The cloud architect must contribute to go-to-market proposals for cloud implementations, target state solution architecture, and product roadmaps, as well as develop the repeatable processes, methods, and solutions.

Qualifications: The candidate must have 5-7 years of experience as a cloud engineer or cloud architect with migration from the data centre to different types of cloud. There should be a deep knowledge of infrastructure solutions, application stacks, WAN/LAN technologies, and enterprise architecture.

Click here to apply

Location: Mumbai, India

Responsibilities: The cloud engineer should help to design and deploy Oracle cloud architectures to address customer business problems while driving Oracle cloud customer consumption to boost the adoption of Oracle cloud services. It is needed to implement solutions through code development and scripting, support customers from PoC through production deployment of services, as well create and distribute technical assets.

Qualifications: The minimum qualification is a Bachelor of Science in any technical field with 12 years of technical experience through presentations, demonstrations, and consultative solutions.

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Location: Bengaluru, India

Responsibilities: The employee should customize and manage screens based on customer requirements while configuring routing plans for manual as well as automatic scheduling. It is necessary to configure capacity as well as quota management, forecasting, and web service creation with the OFSC API framework.

Qualifications: There should be a Bachelor of Technology with a minimum of more than two years of experience in the implementation of OFSC three to ten years of experience.

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Location: Bengaluru, India

Responsibilities: The cloud operations engineer should deploy and manage cloud infrastructure environment as well as applications through cross-technology administration, as well as monitoring automation execution. It is needed to manage incidents with a focus on service restoration while acting as operations support for different issues.

Qualifications: The candidate must be a graduate with sufficient experience of four to six years in designing and implementing AWS cloud solutions. The candidate must have four years of proficient AWS engineer while enhancing the self-service platform for DevOps product teams.

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Vacancy Alert: Top Cloud Computing Jobs to Apply For in Feb 2022 - Analytics Insight

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U.S. F-15s Deploy to Poland To Boost Defensive Capabilities On NATO’s Eastern Flank – The Aviationist

Posted: at 6:05 am

File photo of an F-15C Eagle assigned to the 493rd Fighter Squadron launching for a sortie at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, Dec. 18, 2018. (U.S. Air Force photo by Madeline Herzog)

According to a NATO Allied Air Command press release, US fighter jets are about to start their stay at the ask Air Base in central Poland to enhance the NATOs collective defence posture and support the NATO Air Policing mission.

In particular, the U.S. Air Force would deploy its 48th Fighter Wings F-15C and F-15D jets, normally stationed at RAF Lakenheath in the UK; the Eagles are scheduled to join the Polish and Danish assets working in the region deployed to Siauliai in Lithuania, within the framework of NATOs BAP (Baltic Air Policing) mission. The reinforcement is said to boost readiness, deterrence, and defensive capabilities of the alliance, amidst the Russian military buildup around Ukraine.

Along with the routine sorties flown to support the NATO Air Policing, the deployment is to involve thorough work with other allies stationed in the region.

The deployment of U.S. F-15s to Poland elevates the collective defense capabilities on NATOs Eastern flank and the enhanced Air Policing mission, said General Jeff Harrigian, Commander Allied Air Command and Commander U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa. The commitment of U.S. aircraft and Airmen demonstrates the solidarity of the Alliance, as we continue to work together in unity to execute our defensive mission.

As usual, in case of the eAP (enhanced Air Policing) initiative, the US jets would be coordinated by the CAOC UE (Combined Air Operations Center in Ueden, Germany). This body is responsible for directing, tasking, and coordinating the assets deployed to Northern Europe, in peacetime, crisis, and conflict, as the NATOs release specifies. In essence, the fact that the jets remain at different locations does not necessarily mean that they are separately commanded, as CAOC views the eAP as one, big operation. CAOCs staff is multinational and remains in touch with Control and Reporting Centres, National Air Policing Centres and dedicated Quick Reaction Alert bases routinely to execute NATOs Air Policing mission.

Enhanced Air Policing is one of the tools that has been implemented as a part of the Assurance Measures promoting the regional stability. Even though Baltic Air Policing has so far been associated mainly with the Siauliai AB in Lithuania, NATO currently has numerous assets stationed in multiple locations, boosting the deterrence and air potential in the area. Not only have the jets been stationed in Lithuania (Polish Air Force, Royal Danish Air Force), as currently they also remain on location in Iceland (currently Portuguese Air Force), Estonia (Belgian Air Component, USAF), Poland (USAF) and Romania (Italian and German Air Force).

Anyway, F-15s of the 48th FW have already deployed to Poland operating within theframework of an Agile Combat Employment exercise. For instance, in April 2021, 20x F-15s (both E and C models from RAF Lakenheath, UK) and 4x F-16s (assigned to the 480th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany) deployed to ask (EPLK) and Krzesiny (EPKS) airbases for Aviation Detachment Rotation (AvRot) 21-2.

By the way, as we write this article, U.S. B-52s from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, are deploying to RAF Fairford, UK, as part of a Bomber Task Force rotation..

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U.S. F-15s Deploy to Poland To Boost Defensive Capabilities On NATO's Eastern Flank - The Aviationist

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3 ETFs to invest in cloud computing – Marketscreener.com

Posted: at 6:05 am

If you want to know more about the cloud computing market and its major players, I suggest you take a look at Tommy Douziech's excellent article where he details how the cloud works, the market and the future prospects of this technology, all accompanied by a complete thematic list of cloud players.

In short, cloud computing is a tool that allows you to benefit from an IT infrastructure, a development platform or even a ready-to-use service, all online, without the need for hardware at home or in your company. It runs on servers managed by the provider, who takes care of the security and maintenance of the hardware.

The cloud allows companies and users to operate infrastructure and services online, without additional hardware costs with a simple annual or monthly subscription. It is like renting a PC that is not in your office but on a server whose location is kept secret.

First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (SKYY):This ETF is provided by the Illinois based investment management company First Trust. With more than $5 bn in total net asset, SKYY is the largest cloud fund. It employs a modified equal weighted index limited to 80 companies, aiming to optimize the performance of the ISE CTA Cloud Computing Index. Companies listed in the index must respect these three criteria :

Since its inception in May 2011, the NAV average annualized total return is +17.39% (S&P500 average annualized total return over the period is +15.16%) and +10.55% over one year. The expense ratio is 0.60%.

Here are the top holdings as of 02/07/2022:

Global X Cloud Computing ETF (CLOU):CLOU is the second largest cloud computing ETF with $1.2 bn in assets under management. Provided by the well known New-York based ETF producer Global X, it is based on the Indxx Global Computing Index, which offers exposure to exchange-listed companies in developed and emerging markets that are positioned to benefit from the increased adoption of cloud computing technology. Since its launch in April 2019, the NAV average annualized total return is +23.97% and -3.26% over one year. The ETF is composed of 35 companies and total expense ratio is 0.68%.

Here are the top 10 holdings :

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3 ETFs to invest in cloud computing - Marketscreener.com

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