Joyent and Sun have announced a highly tuned MySQL Accelerator that claims 2x-4x better performance than EC2 (but see comments). Joyent focuses on "Enterprise-Class Cloud Computing", with offerings on Public Cloud and the Private Cloud, plus a new Smart Platform in beta (tutorial). Joyent's Cloud is Based on OpenSolaris and they are the largest OpenSolaris installation in the world.

Joyent and Sun have a long collaboration on Software and Hardware ([1], [2], [3]). One of the containers supported in Joyent's Accelerators is GlassFish; see [4], [5], [6], and the MySQL Appliance, plus the Zeus Accelerator (built using ZXTM's Extensible Traffic Manager) and GlassFish make a very good Java Stack. We had covered Joyent's hosting in earlier posts (@TA, @MtR).

BTW, while checking on this piece, I see that Joyent has Sold Strongspace and BingoDisk to ExpandDrive so they can "... focus on Joyent Accelerators and Joyent Smart".

It's a shame that engineers don't like free stuff. If they did, Sakthi's tip about the upcoming JRuby Hack Day would be perfect. Experts from Sun and Joyent will show how to develop and deploy JRuby applications on GlassFish (to get some impressive performance and scalability results [1, 2, 3]). A catered dinner and open bar will also be provided. But I'm sure none of you would be interested in getting all of that for free. So you won't need details like the time (August 8), location (Axis Cafe in San Francisco), or registration page (hurry to guarantee your spot). Like I said--it's a real shame. ;)