Anbox Cloud, a new Canonical platform to distribute Android applications at scale

anbox is an open source tool that allows us to install and run Android applications on Linux. Based on this technology, Canonical has just introduced Anbox Cloud, a new platform that has been developed to containerize Android workloads as a guest operating system for mobile application scale delivery of Google's operating system directly from a cloud provider.

Anbox Cloud is based on the Ubuntu 18.04 kernel and leverages Canonical's LXD container system to provide a lighter alternative for emulating Android applications in virtual machines. In addition, the platform also includes Canonical's MAAS (Metal as a Service) to supply remote infrastructure and Juju to facilitate development and management at reduced costs.

Anbox Cloud is based on open source technology

Canonical today announced Anbox Cloud, a platform that contains workloads using Android as a guest operating system that allows companies to distribute applications from the cloud. Anbox Cloud enables companies and service providers to deliver mobile applications at scale, more securely and independent of the capabilities of a device. Anbox Cloud use cases include cloud gaming, enterprise work applications, software testing, and mobile device virtualization.

Developers using Anbox Cloud will be able to deliver on-demand experiences to end customers, who will be able to run the apps via streaming directly from their devices using a 5G network. This includes all kinds of applications, from more powerful apps to video games, and they will not need to be downloaded to the device to be able to test them. Not having to download apps will also allow developers to test thousands and thousands of applications, since storage will not be a problem.

Thanks to the security offered by Canonical and its kernel, companies will also be able to use "the Anbox cloud" to deliver applications directly to employees in their offices, all at very low cost. In case you are concerned about privacy, this system can be hosted in public or private clouds. You have more information in the informative note by Canonical.