AWS, Google team up with Linux Foundation on cloud spending specification

In an effort to provide a more comprehensive view on cloud spending, the FinOps Foundation has teamed up with hyperscalers and service providers to unveil the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS), version 1.0.

As enterprises rely more on cloud workloads to support their business applications and AI models, carefully budgeting for cloud usage is becoming more critical. Globally, the cloud market is forecast to reach nearly $679 billion in 2024, up about 20% from $564 billion this year, according to Gartner.

Enterprises will be looking to the public cloud to support their generative AI services "given the scale of the infrastructure required," said Sid Nag, VP analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

Together with cloud giants Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud, the FinOps Foundation, a Linux Foundation project focused on cloud financial management, has created a universal cloud billing specification.

Service providers such as Atlassian, Twilio, Datadog and Snowflake are also taking part in developing the FOCUS specification, according to TechCrunch.

'Consistency and simplicity'

The goal of FOCUS is to provide an open-source, vendor-agnostic specification to present cost and usage data on cloud spending. The FinOps Foundation said FOCUS will help organizations "achieve consistency and simplicity of understanding cost and usage across cloud, SaaS, and other relevant providers and data sets."

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FOCUS can also be used to conduct discount analysis, unit pricing and cloud usage analysis. The specification will include a use case library with over 40 "commonly performed FinOps use case examples tied to FOCUS data outputs," said the foundation.  

In addition to working with hyperscalers, the nonprofit is bringing together FinOps vendors, software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers and FinOps enterprises to support development of the FOCUS specification.

"Having a vendor-neutral view of all cloud resources will enable us to better engage with cloud partners and better serve our customers and shareholders," said Tim O'Brien, Walmart senior director of Engineering, in a statement.