Technology continues to advance. It has become a significant part of our lives and one of the most crucial innovations is definitely cloud computing. There are several cloud computing platform providers. However, the one that keeps innovating and changing the rules is the industry leader – Google with its Google Cloud services. This article is an introduction to Google Cloud Platform and the advantages of cloud computing. We’ll explain:
- What Google Cloud Platform is and how to use it.
- Why use the GCP console.
- What services Google offers to companies looking for cloud computing services.
What is GCP (Google Cloud Platform)?
Let’s start with a quick reminder of what cloud computing actually is. Simply speaking, it’s the use of hardware and software components in an off-premises location to deliver a service to a network. Users can access resources (files, documents, applications) from any device connected to the Internet. Servers are maintained easily with a close-to-zero downtime. The environment can be modified depending on users’ needs and requirements.
So, Google Cloud Platform is a public cloud vendor that enables customers to access various resources housed in Google’s data centers around the world. It offers a comprehensive suite of computing services for individuals and companies. GCP runs on the same infrastructure that Google uses for its end-used products. It offers services like computing, network, machine learning, AI, and big data processing.
Google Cloud Platform was first launched in 2008 as App Engine. It was a developer tool that allowed customers to run their web apps on Google infrastructure. The main idea behind App Engine was to make it easy for the customers to start with a new app and then scale when the traffic and the number of users rapidly grow. In 2011, the tool became a fully supported Google product that quickly started to acquire more services and products to enhance the user experience. Today, GCP is the leading public cloud vendor using Google’s locations all over the world.
Is GCP the same as Google Cloud?
No really. In fact, Google Cloud offers services that are available for users over the Internet. Such services help companies and individuals go digital. These may be Google Workspace, enterprise versions of Chrome or Android, APIs for machine learning, etc. On the other hand, Google Cloud Platform is a part of Google Cloud. It provides a public cloud infrastructure for hosting web-based apps. The services we mentioned above (e.g., Google Workspace) aren’t what we are talking about when it comes to GCP.
How does GCP work?
Thanks to GCP, users can access, manage, and use tools they require via a web interface. On top of that, users are provided with great flexibility and choice – each service is instantly available for the client to leverage different resources to develop the infrastructure they need. They can do it via the intuitive, web-based Google Cloud Platform console. All the time you use any of the GCP services, Google tracks the resources it uses. Therefore, you only pay for each of these resources on a per-minute or even per-second basis.
Categories of Google Cloud services
Major Google Cloud Platform services include computing and hosting, storage and database, networking, machine learning, big data, and identity/security. Let’s dive deeper into them.
Computing and hosting
It’s the basic service Google offers to its customers. You can choose from services like Compute Engine (Virtual Machines, Disks, and Network), App Engine (a platform that enables customers to deploy Java, PHP, and other apps – it offers the automatic scaling feature), Container Engine, Container Registry, Kubernetes Engine (it provides a platform for automating deployment, scaling, and operations of app containers across clusters of hosts), and more. The service enables computing and hosting in the cloud.
Storage and database
This object storage system is like space in a park-and-lock. It can hold entire organized databases, video streams, and matrices for machine learning models. The storage and database service enables your application to store media files, backups, and other file-like objects. The services include solutions like Cloud Storage (for storing and accessing data on a Google Cloud Platform infrastructure), Cloud SQL (it allows you to create, configure, and use relational databases that live in Google Cloud), Cloud Spanner, etc.
Networking
The service allows you to load-balance traffic across resources, create DNS records, and more. Google networking services include VPC (Virtual Private Cloud that provides a private network with IP allocation, routing, and network firewall policies), Cloud DNS, Cloud Armor, Cloud Interconnect, and more.
Machine learning/AI
For AI, Google offers a managed service that enables users to build and train machine learning models. It’s called Cloud Machine Learning Engine and enables you to build machine learning models based on mainstream frameworks.
Big data
This group of services makes it possible for you to process and query big data in the cloud. You can choose services like BigQuery (it enables businesses to analyze big data and features highly scalable data storage), Cloud Datalab, Cloud Data Studio, etc.
Identity and security
Google identity and security services deal with security and authentication. They include Cloud Identity, Cloud IAM (Cloud Identity and Access Management), Security Key Enforcement, and Cloud Data Loss Prevention API which helps you manage sensitive data.
Google Cloud services described above are available based on your primary computing needs: IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service – you can run virtual machines without having to invest in computing infrastructure yourself), PaaS (Platform as a Service – you get the benefits of IaaS plus underlying infrastructures like operating systems and middleware), and SaaS (Software as a Service – the service provider hosts, manages, and delivers the entire infrastructure including applications).
Gcloud solutions implementation
Google Cloud Platform implementation is quick and easy. Once you start using the service, you can reap all the benefits it brings immediately. You don’t have to spend money upfront on hardware, upgrade the hardware, and migrate it every few years. You can easily scale up to adjust to the demand. You get all these right from the start of your Google Cloud Platform adventure. The most efficient way to kick off is to find a reliable partner (e.g., a professional dedicated team with years of experience in the field) who will guide you through the entire implementation process.
The platform enables you to store and manage four types of resources: the organization resource (it may e.g., represent your company), the project resource, the folder resource, and resources (virtual machines, database instances, load balancers, etc.). There are of course quotas that limit the maximum number of resources you can create within your pricing plan, but the number can be easily increased if necessary.
Advantages of cloud computing from Google
GCP is popular for many reasons. Therefore, it’s often chosen by businesses, no matter their size. Here are the top benefits of Google cloud computing:
- Performance. The network has connections throughout the world. Google’s low-latency network processes data in less time. GCP is very fast which increases the performance of executing the project.
- Competitive pricing. There is a monthly pricing plan that provides committed discounts. Plus, it’s easy to scale up or down. Google offers cost-effective solutions for various cases which means it has better pricing compared to its competitors.
- Live migration of applications.
- There are many innovative solutions available out there. Google offers big data, AI, and machine learning solutions.
- Productivity boost. Google Cloud enables you to work from anywhere in the world, collaborate and share files in real-time efficiently.
- Flexibility. You can scale up and down the use of services and resources per your requirements.
- Private network. Google offers its own network to every customer. Therefore, you have more control and scalability. You get the maximum time and efficiency.
- Security. All data on GCP is encrypted. You can be certain that your data is safe and secure. Also, Google has its own redundant backups built-in.
All those make Google the cloud of choice for many – very often, our clients say that GCP feels like using Lego to build architectures. And we totally agree. Each Google service has its own use case and was designed to work with the next service. On top of that, Google Cloud service can be accessed by software developers, as the provider has a reliable and highly scalable infrastructure to build, test, and deploy their apps.
What is the future of the Google Cloud Platform?
Google and its services have been making steady progress in the last few years. It seems that the popularity of the cloud platform will be growing even more dynamically. If you are a large organization, GCP is a powerful tool that will enhance your performance. If you are a startup, GCP is the right way for your growth to skyrocket.
No matter the size of your company, we have a tailor-made Google solution for you. Let’s talk.
