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July Episode — What's New in Cloud FinOps

Episode Summary
In this July episode of What's New in Cloud FinOps, Frank and SteveO cover a packed set of cloud and AI cost-management updates across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle, Alibaba, and OpenAI. The conversation focuses on how cloud vendors are changing pricing models, improving observability, and adding new ways to optimize compute, storage, and AI workloads.

The standout theme is that AI and cloud economics are becoming more dynamic: pricing is shifting by usage pattern, time of day, workload type, and capacity model. The hosts also dig into how organizations can use these changes to improve governance, control costs, and make smarter architecture decisions.

Top Topics Covered

• AWS EKS and ECS GPU management fee reductions
• Amazon CloudWatch intelligent tiering for logs
• Amazon S3 removing the 30-day minimum for storage class transitions
• AWS Billing and Cost Management adding a cost efficiency widget
• AWS Data Exports adding standardized Bedrock metadata
• AWS Lambda publishing logs for managed capacity providers
• Azure reservation exchange changes and legacy VM RI renewals
• Alibaba Cloud time-of-day pricing for frontier AI models
• Alibaba model routing reference architecture
• OpenAI GPT model price cuts and Bedrock matching those rates
• Oracle bringing Gemini models into OCI
• Google Data Stream free tier for CDC writes
• Amazon OpenSearch Service optimized for log analytics
• Microsoft Marketplace single-click SaaS purchases
• AWS sustainability dashboard adding water withdrawal data

Key Takeaways
AI pricing is getting more sophisticated.

Providers are increasingly using variable pricing, off-peak discounts, and routing strategies to steer usage and improve margins.
Cloud optimisation is moving deeper into the platform.

Vendors are surfacing more native tools for cost visibility, efficiency scoring, and policy-driven automation.
Storage and logging are becoming more cost-aware.

New features in S3, CloudWatch, and OpenSearch help teams store more data for less while keeping observability usable.
Governance and procurement remain critical.

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Title: What's New in Cloud FinOps - June 2026

Hosts: Frank Contrepois and SteveO

Summary

In this episode, Frank and SteveO navigate through the latest cloud offerings and AI advancements, revealing how these updates impact performance, costs, and operational strategies across Azure, AWS, and AI applications. Stay tuned for insights into new VM generations, cost management tools, and cutting-edge AI features.

Key Topics:

• Azure's new Cobalt 200V and 100V VMs deliver up to 50% better CPU performance
• Introduction of AWS's Metal 48XL/96XL and enhanced EC2 instances with sixth-generation Intel Xeon
• Latest AWS Graviton 5 processors offering up to 25% better compute performance
• Enhanced Amazon EC2 G7 instances powered by Nvidia RTX Pro 4500
• AWS Cost Management updates, including automatic cost anomaly investigations and new billing tools
• AWS's support for region-agnostic throughput reservations in Azure
• The rise of AI and automation in cost optimization: new tools, models, and use cases
• Cloud vendors' announcements on energy-efficient storage, reserved pricing, and billing analysis tools

Timestamps:
00:00 - Cloud news roundup: performance boosts in Azure VM series
00:20 - Azure's new Cobalt 200V VMs: performance and AI workload optimization
01:32 - AWS launches Metal 48XL/96XL: CPU advancements and network enhancements
02:50 - Introduction of AWS M9G/M9GD instances with AWS Graviton 5 processors
04:36 - AWS's latest EC2 G7 instances with Nvidia RTX GPUs for AI and visual workloads
05:43 - Cost efficiency improvements with new pricing models and snapshot billing
09:28 - Redshift advances with manual snapshot cost reductions
10:12 - AI models on Bedrock: GPT 5.5, Codex, and OpenAI integrations
12:24 - Innovations in cloud billing: cost explorer, cost anomaly detection, and billing account tools
13:00 - Cost & Usage Report 2.0 enhances S3, Athena, and Redshift integration
14:23 - Google Cloud billing updates: report export improvements and new filtering options
15:19 - AWS's right-sizing and resource optimization enhancements
16:12 - Cost explorer AI integrations and automated cost investigations
17:10 - New AI-powered tools for cost anomaly root-cause analysis
18:16 - Multi-project billing views and resource management in AWS
19:04 - Advanced export configurations to streamline billing data handling
20:06 - Google Cloud's spot VM real-time availability features
21:36 - Enhanced tagging, resource management, and API capabilities in AWS and Google Cloud
24:11 - Azure's VM retirements, storage, and reservation updates
26:15 - Redshift's new upfront pricing options for reserved instances
27:35 - Global provisioned throughput reservations now regional in Azure for flexibility
28:44 - Storage charges optimizations and vector query cost reductions on S3
30:10 - Using finops.frankcontrepois.com for AI-driven FinOps
34:08 - The importance of separating AI from automation in cloud efficiency strategies
36:17 - Resources like the Phoenix Project and The Goal for understanding process optimization and AI impact
37:34 - Support for new resource types and idle recommendation expansion in AWS Compute Optimizer
38:50 - Cost and performance insights into specific resource wastage
39:16 - AWS's State of Cost Efficiency Report: benchmarking and industry insights
40:52 - AWS FinOps agents preview: automated cost and anomaly management workflows
42:23 - Programmatic savings plan management and AWS workload optimization
43:47 - Cost attribution and telemetry for large language models (LLMs) on Bedrock
44:10 - AWS WAF's new AI traffic monetization capabilities for API access control
45:45 - Azure Cosmos DB's new cost estimator tool for pre-provisioning modeling
46:52 - Top three news picks: upcoming cloud innovations and AI advances
47:35 - The growing role of FinOps and AI operational tools in cloud cost management

Resources:
FinOps tool
The Phoenix Project
The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Connect with the Hosts:
Frank - LinkedIn
SteveO - LinkedIn

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Summary: In this episode, Frank and SteveO discuss the latest updates in cloud technology for May 2026. They cover AWS's new multi-cloud connectivity with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, the general availability of Amazon EC2 M3 Ultra Mac instances, and Microsoft's release of V7 VMs powered by Intel Xeon processors. The hosts also delve into Amazon Bedrock's expanded support for request-level usage attribution and service quotas, as well as AWS Marketplace's new programmatic procurement capabilities. The episode wraps up with insights from the FinOps X conference and a discussion on cost management strategies in cloud services.

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This month, Frank Contrepois and Steven Old interview Yasmin Rajabi.

A few weeks ago, we picked a topic. Then, just five minutes before recording, we all changed our minds. In the end, we didn’t discuss any of the planned subjects and went with the flow. And what an amazing flow it was!

This is one of the best interviews we've ever done. It was engaging, sparked memories, and created new content for all FinOps practitioners listening.

Yasmin will need to return soon so we can try to discuss a set topic... or not.

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Frank and Stephen discuss the latest updates in cloud technology, focusing on AWS and Azure. They cover topics like EC2 Fleet's new interruptible capacity reservation, Azure pricing challenges, and the retirement of certain virtual machine sizes. They also explore the benefits of Google's TPU 7x for AI training and the introduction of AWS's Sustainability Console for carbon emission tracking. The conversation touches on the importance of risk management in business decisions and the evolving landscape of cloud billing and sustainability.

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In this episode of What’s New in Cloud FinOps?, Frank and Stephen break down the latest shifts in cloud usage, pricing, and governance so you don’t have to read the release notes from vendor blog posts.

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This episode covers the latest updates in cloud computing, including AWS Spot Interruption metrics, new EC2 instances, Azure and GCP enhancements, and cost management innovations. Perfect for cloud professionals seeking actionable insights and industry trends.
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Key topics:

• AWS Spot Interruption Metrics
• New EC2 Memory-Optimized Instances
• Azure and GCP Cloud Enhancements
• Cost Management and Optimization Strategies
• Capacity Constraints and AI Impact