In an effort to entice developers to improve cloud security, Google, in collaboration with Intel,  is launching the Confidential Computing Challenge. Google is looking for two different types of responses: those that advance confidential computing and those that leverage confidential computing to improve the security of an application.

The deadline for submissions is April 1 and the winner will receive $15,000 in cash, $5,000 in Google Cloud Platform credits, and a Google hardware gift.

Microsoft releases two new analytics services for Azure
Microsoft has announced two new Azure analytics services to remove the need for organizations to have to choose between higher speeds or lower costs.

It released Azure Data Explorer (ADX), enabling organizations to have a fully managed database service for analyzing large amounts of streaming data. ADX allows data scientists to gain insights from data without having to do significant pre-processing of that data.

It also released ADLS Gen2, a data lake that the company said “combines the scalability, cost effectiveness, security model, and rich capabilities of Azure Blob Storage with a high-performance file system that is built for analytics.”

IBM Z Open Unit Test announced
IBM has announced IBM Z Open Unit Test, which is an automated unit testing solution for batch and CICS programs. According to the company, it works with IBM Z Open Development, which was released at the end of the year as way to develop on z/OS using Git. Together, the two solutions offer a “powerful continuous development, testing, and delivery environment.”

Key features of IBM Z Open Unit Test include automated data capture and recording, test case generation for COBOL CICS programs, and the ability to store test cases in any SCM.

Illumio raises $65 million in Series E funding
Cybersecurity company Illumio has just raised $65 million in Series E funding, bringing its total funding up to $332.5 million. Illumio provides micro-segmentation, which more and more organizations are embracing as part of their security strategy, the company explained. Illumio will use this new funding to support its expanding presence in the US, EMEA, and APAC.

“Regardless of industry or size, every organization has crown jewel or regulated assets running in their environment, and the only way to protect them effectively is ringfencing and segmentation,” said Andrew Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Illumio. “With this latest round of funding, we’re continuing to invest in scaling our global go-to-market as well as the innovation of our platform.”