(Update) We’ve recently released some new product features to further enhance your training experience:

Hands-on Labs, live cloud environments for your team to build and validate practical experience directly on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Docker, Kubernetes, data pipelines, and much more.

Training Plans will help you assign, manage, and measure structured cloud training at scale.

Skill Assessment will help you trend your team’s aptitude by platform, domain, and topic and identify possible skill gaps.

We couldn’t wait for the full release of Core, Ubuntu’s new super-lightweight cloud computing operating system and the Snappy package manager that comes with it, so we tried out their pre-release Alpha version. And, because we wanted to share it with you, we’ve created a new video course to introduce you to something very new…and possibly very big (you can also watch the videos here).

Core offers all the bullet-proof reliability and mature eco-system you’re used to from Ubuntu server distros but, because it was purpose-built with all the major cloud computing platforms in mind, it’s smaller, quicker, and efficient than ever.

But the big news – both for people looking for outstanding host environments for their cloud deployments and for secure and worry-free workstations and PCs – is Snappy, the new package manager that makes its grand debut in Core. If things go Canonical’s way, Snappy will eventually replace the apt-get repository management tool. But why fix what isn’t broken (and apt-get most certainly is not broken)? Because, by isolating apps and frameworks from each other and, as much as possible, from the OS kernel, you can realize unprecedented system stability and flexibility. Did an update break something? Roll it back instantly and it will be like it was never there. Do you need to upgrade one, and only one, package, but with as little reciprocal impact as possible? You’ve come to the right place.

So here’s your chance to get in on the ground floor. Join the Cloud Academy course and learn how to run Ubuntu Core/Snappy on Amazon’s AWS!