Google is going all-out with its arsenal to take on Microsoft and AWS in a growing cloud war. It’s latest product is Cloud Spanner, a global database that’s driven Google to become one of the best tech companies in the world. While this is not a new product as it’s been around for decades, this is the first time Google is opening it up for its customers.

Cloud Spanner is the database that has been powering Google for the last so many years. It all started when a group of engineers came together to create the first database and a system that seemed to defy all logic. Called the Spanner, this database was a mechanism to store information across millions of machines spanning through dozens of data centers in multiple continents. The best part is, Spanner acts as a single piece, even if it is spread across the world.

Today, it is the underlying technology for all of Google’s services such as Gmail, Google Photos and its most important revenue-generating product, Adwords.

Now, for the first time ever, Google is opening up this product to the world by branding it as Cloud Spanner. As per the terms and conditions, customers can rent out some space on Cloud Spanner, and can use it for their own apps and products. This is exactly the same as what Google uses for its in-house operations.

Spanner uses SQL language for querying, so most programmers who’ve worked on popular databases like SQL, Oracle and DB2 should be familiar with it. This translates to little or no training to use the Cloud Spanner, and customers can start making the most of it from day one. At the same time, Spanner is a flexible database that can expand to hold any amount of data, so scalability is never an issue.

On top of it, Cloud Spanner is hosted from the Google data centers, and this means, like other Google products, this is protected against hardware failures and cyber attacks. In other words, customers get to use the patented magic technology from Google for their own apps and products, for a fraction of the cost of developing such a massive system.

For those customers who don’t want to create apps using Cloud Spanner, Google offers a product called Cloud SQL, that’s similar to a traditional database software. In addition, customers can also use BigQuery data analysis engine on both the platforms for big data queries. With such a move, Google has empowered its customers in a big way, as they can choose to either use Cloud Spanner or Cloud SQL, depending on their business needs.

This is a significant move by Google, and one that can shake up the cloud market. Over the last few months, Google has tried a range of different strategies to counter the dominance of AWS and the fast-growing Microsoft Azure, but has seen only limited success. Since Spanner is something that is exclusively available only in Google, there is an increased chance for customers to use Google Cloud over Azure and AWS.

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Snap and Google have entered into a five-year agreement, under which Snap has committed to purchasing Google services to the tune of $400 million each year. When this deal expires in 2022, Snap would have spent $2 billion on Google cloud. Already, Snap relies on Google Cloud to run many of its operations, and this agreement will only strengthen the partnership between the two companies.

This agreement is a big win for Google Cloud, as it is looking to take on competition from AWS and Microsoft. Recent results show that AWS is still at the top, followed by Microsoft. Though Google has been working hard in its cloud segment, it hasn’t been able to take on these two giants. While this deal is not expected to help Google surpass its competitors, it will nevertheless increase the chances for Google to gain a better footing in the cloud segment. It is worthy to note that last year Google secured similar agreements with Apple and Spotify.

In addition, this agreement is expected to bump up the annual revenue of Google in a big way. Currently, Google doesn’t separate the revenue from its cloud business, rather it combines it with its other non-advertising revenue such as Google Play Store. With this agreement, we can expect the non-advertising revenue to increase greatly over the next five years. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the revenue from this segment was $3.4 billion.

An another good aspect of this deal is that Snapchat users are a highly engaged bunch of people, with an average user opening the app at least 18 times a day. Further, mobile video is an integral part of Snapchat, and this could give a boost to Google’s aspirations to become the leading mobile video provider.

As of now, mobile video accounts for 55 percent of the total Internet traffic, and this is expected to reach 75 percent by 2020, according to Cisco. Also, data from mobile video is expected to grow at an astounding rate of 62 percent each year from 2017 to 2020. This will include not just videos, but also video-related technologies such as augmented reality (AR) apps like Pokemon Go.  All this means, Google stands to gain much from this partnership, not just in terms of revenue, but also from a wide market presence.

For Snap, this partnership can open the door for new possibilities that are sure to enhance the usability of its software. In early 2015, both the companies talked about a partnership in which Snap users can point to an object, and Google will provide all the information pertaining to it from its search database.  Though that partnership did not take off then, this agreement can lead to similar collaboration between the two companies.

This partnership, in many ways, reflects the growing importance of cloud and its presence as a central component in the operations of any company. As cloud industry increases further in strength, we can expect more such partnerships that will augur well for not just companies, but also for users and the cloud industry at large.

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Almost every major cloud provider is coming up with innovative products and add-ons that’ll add value to their customers. In this line, Google has released a new cloud encryption key management service to make it easy for organizations to create and use encryption keys to protect their data.  This service is currently available in the beta version in 50 countries including the US, Canada, Australia and Denmark.

This service, in many ways, is a necessity considering the number of hacking incidents that have taken place over the last year, including the widely spoken rigging of the US election. It can add an extra layer of protection for confidential data stored on the cloud. A salient feature of this KMS system is that you can not only manage keys for encrypting user credentials, but also take API tokens associated with applications and store them outside Google Cloud.

At the same time, managing encryption keys is also easy with this service. Enterprises can create, use, recycle, and destroy millions of AES-256 standard symmetric keys in any cloud-hosted solution or environment, with a set of simple user-interface driven clicks. These keys can also be automated to rotate at certain intervals, so the password keeps changing all the time, and only authorized users can access the application.

In addition, Google KMS integrates well with existing services from Google such as the Cloud Identity Access Management system and the Cloud Audit Logging services, to help customers have greater control over their encryption keys. Also, this service falls between the default encryption options that’s considered to be fairly lenient and the customer supplier encryption keys (CSEK) that are the most stringent. So, its stringent enough to be easy to use and at the same time, to protect your data strongly.  Such a feature can be particularly useful for companies that operate in regulated sectors such as healthcare and finance, as they can meet the regulatory requirements laid down by different statutory bodies.

These unique features are sure to bring in greater adoption through this year. The pricing is also fairly reasonable, and depends on the level of usage. Currently, Google  plans to charge $0.06 for every active key per month, and the rate for using the key is $0.03 for every 10,000 operations. This means, an organization that stores and uses 500 encryption keys over 100,000 operations can expect to pay around $30 a month. While this is not cheap, it’s fair considering that encryption by itself is an expensive process.

In short, Google’s KMS is sure to address gaps that exist in cloud security by giving it an additional layer of protection. It’s no surprise that Google is the first company to release such a product, as it’s always been a strong advocate of end-to-end encryption of data on the Internet. For enterprise customers, this service is expected to address many fears and concerns regarding hacking, which unfortunately, have been more prevalent than we’d like. This service will hopefully put an end to some of the security loopholes on the Internet.

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G-cloud is making a big impact in the UK, as is evident from the recent sales figures released by the company. For the first time since its inception in 2012, G-cloud has passed the £1.5 billion mark, and much of it comes from its  small and medium enterprise (SME) customers. According to the release £875 million came from SMEs, while £702 million came from large enterprises.

These numbers, in many ways, reflect the strength of the British economy, and its ability to stand firm despite Brexit. Also, it shows the growing presence of G-cloud, and the cloud industry at large in the UK. The rate of adoption of technology, especially cloud, is fairly high in the Western world, and these numbers are yet another indicator of it.

Along with the private enterprise, the Central Government also has adopted cloud in a big way. In fact, the central government uses G-cloud more than any other area of public sector. The percentage of sales made through the central government on G-cloud is a whopping 74 percent, while the remaining sectors account for a mere 26 percent. Through this large spending, the central government has set the right example for private and public sectors in the UK.

Much of this spending comes through the Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) agreements that cam into being in April of this year to replace the Digital Services framework (DSF) that was in place since 2012. The new agreement is wider and more encompassing than its predecessor, and it aims to ensure greater adoption of tech among UK governments and businesses. The next iteration of DOS is expected to be released in February 2017 by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), and this iteration is likely to have the spending figures under the framework in the future. From a cloud perspective, this is good news, as the iteration’s budget for cloud is expected to increase to give a boost to the economy as a whole.

It is significant to note that AWS opened its new cloud data center in London to cater to the growing demands of its UK businesses. This also means that others like G-cloud and Microsoft are already taking steps or are in the process of doing it.

For G-cloud, though the sales numbers are impressive, it still has its task cut out. Local government spending is just short of £85 million, and this is abysmally low when compared to the potential. Local governments and other council services can tap into the power of cloud to improve their offering and streamline their operations, yet they are not willing to move forward. This is something that G-cloud should look into and address if they want to have a larger customer base. It’s best for the company to reach out to individual governments to see what is stopping them from using more cloud services, and how G-cloud can best address them.

In all, G-cloud has a firm grip on the market, but it still has a long way to go, especially in the public sector.

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India is a growing market fueled by its economic aspirations and young demographics. It’s little wonder that every major company in the world has a presence here, and Google is no different. It plans to set up a dedicated data center in Mumbai during 2017 to cater to the growing demands of Indian businesses.

This is an important move for Google because the Indian market is too large to be ignored. Already AWS and Microsoft have a presence here. However, the Indian cloud market is still in the developing stage, so any investments here is likely to grow with the cloud sector. All the major cloud providers understand the current situation, as well as the potential it offers during the next decade or so.

Currently, many businesses in India are in the unorganized sector, especially small and medium enterprises. Many of these SMEs still prefer to use cash for their everyday transactions, and only have a limited exposure to technology. All this is expected to change within the next few years – thanks to awareness about the benefits of universal education and the Indian government’s robust economic policies.

India has a young population, and the education levels are slowly and steadily increasing. Many children attend private or government schools, and they are getting exposed to a lot of technology. This means, they will grow up in a digital space, and it won’t be long before they drive the digital world. Another significant factor is the Indian government’s push towards a digital economy. Single-window business clearances, demonetization, and other steps are ensuring that more people would embrace the digital world for their everyday needs. While the results won’t be imminent right away, it’s sure to make a difference within the next five years. When that happens, tech companies want to be in a position to tap into the demand, and this is why they’re planning ahead of time.

Another reason for Google’s Indian presence is its aim to become a leader in the Japan and Asia Pacific region. To this end, it has invested about $9.9 billion in 2016 alone, and this has led to the emergence of two centers – one in Taiwan and the other in Japan. In 2017, it plans to open three more centers in Asia, out of which one will be in Mumbai. The company reiterated that Mumbai will be a region with three zones, but this doesn’t necessarily mean three data centers. Rather what it means is that these zones will ensure a risk-free and fall-tolerant service, but could encompass any number of data centers, but all of them will be located in the Mumbai region.

Though there are many cities in India, Google announced that it chose Mumbai because it is the financial capital of the country, and many local businesses are already using cloud or are planning to move to it soon.

This announcement is good news for the Indian economy as it will generate more employment opportunities, and can also assist the government’s plans to move the country to a digital space.

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Amazon is the market leader in the cloud industry, but other companies are fast catching up by introducing new products and making strategic alliances. The latest in that line is Google’s partnership with Intel. In terms of market share in the cloud industry, AWS is the clear leader with a 45 percent share. Microsoft, Google, and IBM have less than 20 percent of the market share, with Google sitting at a paltry five percent, according to a report released by Synergy.

Over the last year, Google has come up with a slew of changes to make its products more competitive, and to take on leaders like Amazon and Microsoft. It all started with the hiring of VMware’s co-founder Diane Greene last November to head the cloud business. Since then, Google has introduced many new APIs that will make it easier for developers to create applications on the Google platform, rebranded its products in a big way, and has embarked on an aggressive pricing strategy as it has slashed the cost of some products by almost a whopping 80 percent. The latest in such developments is its strategic partnership with another market leader, namely Intel.

On Thursday, Google announced that both the companies are planning to closely work with each other to help enterprises move data across cloud in a more secure way. Further, both the companies would work towards identifying areas where joint integration would pay off for its customers. Specifically, high-end cloud services would be offered soon, and both the companies would be involved in joint marketing efforts.

Through such partnerships, Google aims to reach out to those businesses who haven’t moved to the cloud yet. According to a report by 451 Research, only 41 percent of applications run on public or private cloud, while the remaining sit in data centers. Though the rate of cloud adoption is expected to rise to 60 percent by 2018, there are still a ton of companies that store data and run applications on their own premise. Google wants to tap into this market segment, and encourage more people to move to its cloud. It expects price drops, new products, and partnerships with other industry leaders to do this trick.

This partnership is, in fact, an extension of the warm relationship that has been existing between the two companies for some time now. However, this time the objective is to combine Google’s cloud capabilities with Intel’s advanced hardware in areas such as machine learning, cloud cluster management, and more. Under the terms of this partnership, Google’s cluster management technology called Kubernetes is expected to be a big beneficiary. Since Intel already plays a role in this technology, more collaborations, code optimizations, and higher levels of efficiency are expected to make it a more appealing product for enterprises.

This is not the first time Google is partnering with other companies to expand its offerings. Earlier this year, it partnered with Autodesk to make it easy for entertainment companies to render 3D images, and with another company called Okta to help businesses deploy their data on the cloud securely.

Going forward, we can expect more such moves from Google.

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In a latest move to take on competitors in the cloud market, Google has unveiled a set of machine learning tools, APIs, and services. This announcement also signifies a big push into machine learning and artificial intelligence market for the search-engine giant.

A slew of announcements were made in this regard. Here’s a look at each:

 Google Cloud Jobs API

This API will make it easier for companies to find candidates for open positions in their company, as it uses machine learning to better match the skills of candidates to the existing open jobs. This API is available only in the US and Canada as of now, though it plans to expand it to other countries soon.

As soon as the announcement was made, two leading job sites – Careerbuilder.com and Dice.com, adopted this API and built a prototype within just 48 hours. Currently, this API is available in limited alpha on both these sites.

Cloud Vision API

The next announcement pertains to Google’s popular cloud API – the Cloud Vision API. The company has decided to reduce the price of this service by almost 80 percent because of the significant savings that come from switching its operations to custom TPU chips, that have the capability to amplify machine learning performance. As a result of these capabilities, performance and efficiency are greatly increased, thereby making this API a compelling product for customers.

In addition, Google has enhanced its image recognition capabilities, and has also brought in capabilities to identify landmarks, logos, and other entities.

Cloud Translation API

Google is planning to release the premium version of another popular API called the Cloud Translation API. This API is based on Google Neural Machine Translation System, that uses machine learning to improve speech recognition. This API has the capability to reduce translation errors anywhere between 55 to 85 percent – a significant jump when compared to existing services. It is mainly used in the travel industry where getting the best and closest translation can make a substantial difference.

Currently, this API supports eight languages, namely, English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Turkish, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Soon, the company is expected to add more languages to this API.

Cloud Natural Language API

Google has decided to make its Cloud Natural Language API available for the general public. Also based on machine learning, this API allows a user to reveal the structure, emotions and meaning of any text. In a sample demonstration, Google showed how news stories from the New York Times can be analyzed for sentiments. The same idea can be extended to digital marketing campaigns, where marketers can use the sentiment analysis capability of this API to monitor online product reviews and customer service. The latest version also comes with advanced features such as a more granular sentiment analysis and better syntax analysis.

Cloud Machine Learning Group

Lastly, Google is creating a Cloud Machine Learning Group headed by Fei-Fei Li, former director of Stanford’s AI Lab, and Jia Li, former research head of SnapChat. This group is expected to conduct many more experiments in AI and machine learning.

With these announcements, Google is cementing its place in the competitive cloud market.

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Google Cloud Platform has extended support for a range of tools to make it easier for developers working across different platforms to integrate Google Cloud into their applications. One of the prominent changes made by Google in this respect is to extend support for applications built on ASP .NET – the open source web application framework that was created by Microsoft.  With this change, other related tools such as Visual Studio, C#, Microsoft SQL Server, and PowerShell will also get support from Google Cloud. The best part of this support is that all the APIs are open source and are available for free on github.

Let’s briefly go through each of these APIs.

C# Bindings

Though Google used many innovative technologies, its internal APIs did not really benefit its end-users. This is why the Google Cloud Platform started using public APIs for many things such as machine learning, logging, and so on. The obvious advantage is you can add any capability you want to these APIs, without ever having to worry about the complex infrastructure that executes them for you.

These public APIs come from many platforms including C#. In fact, the Google Cloud Platform receives million of C# clients from around the world every day, and it services them. If you’re wondering what’s new – it’s the support for newer APIs that require a set of advanced features like bidirectional streaming. To service these new APIs, Google is providing support to run them on a high-performance universal RPC called gRPC, instead of the regular HTTP/REST protocol.

PowerShell

Google Cloud’s tools for the Windows PowerShell helps you to manage the different resources of Google Platform easily. These tools include:

• Google Cloud DNS – This tools allows you to manage Google Cloud DNS to publish information pertaining to your zone and record in the DNS, without the burden of managing your own DNS server.

• Google Cloud SQL – This tool makes it convenient to setup, manage, and maintain your own MySQL database on the Google Cloud Platform.

• Google Cloud Storage – This tool makes it easy to store and retrieve any data at any time of your choice. This flexibility allows you to use Google Platform for a wide range of scenarios such as storing web content, archiving data, distributing large objects, and more.

• Google Compute Engine -This tool helps to create and run virtual machines on the Google Cloud Platform. Compute Engine offers many advanced capabilities that makes it easy to launch large compute clusters. Also, this tool is known for its speed and consistency of performance that is sure to add value to your application.

Visual Studio

Cloud tools for Visual Studio is a powerful way to build .NET applications and to deploy them directly on Cloud Platform. It also gives you the choice to run or test your application locally, and also deploy them directly to the cloud, right from your Visual Studio.

With these tools and support, Google plans to reach out to users across different platforms.

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Google is the latest of cloud storage providers to announce changes to its service. In the GCPNext Event in London, the company announced the launch of Coldline, a new cold storage service that would store archival data. This storage offers a cheap rate for customers to store data that they’re likely to access less than once a year. The cost for this service is 0.7 cents for every gigabyte of data.

This announcement has come as a surprise because Google’s rates are already one of the lowest in the market. Also, a closely related service called Nearline is already offered by Google for users who access data less than once a month. This service costs only one cent per gigabyte, so a further slash and a new product along the same lines is a surprise.

Besides Coldline, Google made a few other changes to its cloud storage services. Firstly, it has slashed the price of its regular single-region Cloud by 23 percent, which means, it’ll cost only two cents per gigabyte per month starting from November 1st. In addition, calls to its Application Programming Interface (APIs) will cost only half a cent for every thousand operations, and this is a whopping 50 percent cut in price. This rate is applicable for both regional and multi-regional storage, that are also called Class A types of API calls.

If Coldline is one end of the spectrum, Multi-Regional Cloud Storage Service is the other end. This service is available for customers who require incredibly high levels of data availability. To meet the needs of these customers, Google will replicate data across its many cloud data storage centers spread across different regions. This way, latency will be low and customers can access data from any location quickly.

Both these offerings are designed to capture a larger market share in a highly competitive cloud storage industry. It widens their reach to include more types of customers with varying cloud storage needs, within their business circle.

Another interesting change is that Google now allows its customers to move their data from one tier to another at any time, regardless of the bucket in which the data is stored. This is a significant change, and one that corporate customers have been asking for some time now, as it helps them to make the most of economical IT resources without compromising on the needs of the users as well as regulatory stipulations.

These announcements come at a time when Amazon AWS and Microsoft have been making headlines about their cloud business, especially in terms of the new partnerships and offerings they have been able to clinch in the recent past. For Google, these changes represent a significant shift in its cloud business, as it gears up to take on the challenges from AWS and Microsoft. Capturing a larger market share begins with excellent products at affordable rates, and Google is right on target. The next few months is sure to be interesting for Google, and the cloud storage market as a whole.

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