Canonical introduces Anbox Cloud – scalable Android™ in the cloud

Canonical today announced Anbox Cloud, a platform that containerises workloads using Android¹ as a guest operating system enabling enterprises to distribute applications from the cloud. Anbox Cloud allows enterprises and service providers to deliver mobile applications at scale, more securely and independently of a device’s capabilities. Use cases for Anbox Cloud include cloud gaming, enterprise workplace applications, software testing, and mobile device virtualisation.

The ability to offload compute, storage and energy-intensive applications from devices (x86 and Arm) to the cloud enables end-users to consume advanced workloads by streaming them directly to their device. Developers can deliver an on-demand application experience through a platform that provides more control over performance and infrastructure costs, with the flexibility to scale based on user demand.

“Driven by emerging 5G networks and edge computing, millions of users will benefit from access to ultra-rich, on-demand Android applications on a platform of their choice,” said Stephan Fabel, Director of Product at Canonical. “Enterprises are now empowered to deliver high performance, high density computing to any device remotely, with reduced power consumption and in an economical manner.”

With cloud gaming adoption on the rise, Anbox Cloud enables graphic and memory intensive mobile games to be scaled to vasts amounts of users while retaining the responsiveness and ultra-low latency demanded by gamers. By removing the need to download a game locally on a device, Anbox Cloud creates an on-demand experience for gamers while providing a protected content distribution channel for game developers. 

Anbox Cloud enables enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives by delivering workplace applications directly to employee’s devices, while maintaining the assurance of data privacy and compliance. Enterprises can reduce their internal application development costs by providing a single application that can be used across different form factors and operating systems.

Developers can also utilise Anbox Cloud as part of their application development process to emulate thousands of Android devices across different test scenarios and for integration in CI/CD pipelines.

Anbox Cloud can be hosted in the public cloud for infinite capacity, high reliability and elasticity or on a private cloud edge infrastructure, where low latency and data privacy are a priority. Public and private cloud service providers can integrate Anbox Cloud into their offering to enable the delivery of mobile applications in a PaaS or SaaS-model. Telecommunication providers can also create innovative value-added services based on virtualised mobile devices for their 4G, LTE and 5G mobile network customers.

Notes to editors:

Anbox Cloud is built on a range of Canonical technologies and runs Android on the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS kernel. Containersation is provided by secure and isolated LXD system containers. LXD containers are lightweight, resulting in at least twice the container density compared to Android emulation in virtual machines – depending on streaming quality and/or workload complexity. A higher container density drives scalability up and unit economics down. MAAS is utilised for remote infrastructure provisioning and Juju provides automation tooling for easy deployment, management and reduced operational costs. The Ubuntu Advantage support programme is included with Anbox Cloud, providing continuous support and security updates for up to ten years. 

Canonical partners with Packet, the leading cloud computing infrastructure provider, as an option to deploy Anbox Cloud on-premise or at target edge locations in the world. To provide the best experience with Anbox Cloud, Canonical collaborates with Ampere (ARM) and Intel (x86) as silicon partners. These hardware options are optimised to provide the best density, GPU models and cost efficiency to shorten the time to market for customers building their services on top of Anbox Cloud.

Partner quotes:

“As the vast library of Android and Arm-native applications continues to grow, developers need proven systems that provide scalable capacity, reliable performance and deployment flexibility. The combination of Ampere’s Arm-based servers with a provisioned virtualisation solution like Canonical’s Anbox Cloud delivers the flexible, high-performance and secure infrastructure that developers need in order to deliver a better user experience for consumers.”

Jeff Wittich, SVP of Products at Ampere

“Canonical’s inclusion of the Intel Visual Cloud Accelerator Card – Render as part of their newly launched Anbox Cloud solution will enable the delivery of enhanced cloud and mobile gaming experiences on Android devices, supporting an emerging industry opportunity today, and for the upcoming 5G era.”

Lynn Comp, Vice President, Data Platforms Group and General manager of the Visual Cloud Division, Intel

“With Anbox Cloud, Canonical is bringing to market a disruptive product that is both powerful and easy to consume. As small, low-powered devices inundate our world, offloading applications to nearby cloud servers opens up a huge number of opportunities for efficiency, as well as new experiences. We’re excited to support the Anbox Cloud team as they grow alongside the worldwide rollout of 5G.”

Jacob Smith, Co-founder and CMO at Packet <

For more information on Anbox Cloud, visit anbox-cloud.io or click here to download the joint whitepaper with Intel –  Cloud gaming for Android: Building a high performing and scalable platform.

About Canonical  

Canonical is the publisher of Ubuntu, the OS for most public cloud workloads as well as the emerging categories of smart gateways, self-driving cars and advanced robots. Canonical provides enterprise security, support and services to commercial users of Ubuntu. Established in 2004, Canonical is a privately held company.

1. Android is a trademark of Google LLC. Anbox Cloud uses assets available through the Android Open Source Project.