What is Google Cloud Platform (GCP) ?
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a public cloud vendor offering a wide variety of computing services for different types of tasks including cost and data management, data analysis via AI and machine learning tools, delivery of videos over the web and VPN connections. These resources are stored in Google’s data centers locally in Australia which users can access either on a free or pay-per-use basis, depending on the service.
Using GCP is simple and flexible as users are able to choose and leverage the available services to work with a custom infrastructure that is suitable for their needs. The main goal of GCP is to provide services that allow users to develop and maintain original applications to be published on the web. With the help of GCP, users benefit from massive data storage, sophisticated analytics, AI functions, and other cost-effective tools by paying only for the resources used
Are Google Cloud and Google Cloud Platform the Same?
The quick answer is no.
Google Cloud is a combination of different services and platforms offered to organizations via the internet allowing them to go digital. Google Cloud includes Google Workspace or G Suite & enterprise versions of Android and Chrome OS amongst other tools.
Google Cloud Platform encompasses only the application programming interfaces for machine learning, enterprise mapping services & cloud infrastructure products thus Google Cloud Platform is only one part of the overall Google Cloud offering.
Brief History of the Google Cloud Platform
Google Cloud Platform was first launched in 2008 with the preview release of the App Engine tool designed for running web applications on Google infrastructure. As a preview version, App Engine was designed to make it easy for the users to get started with a new web application and scale it over time. The tool was made available to 10,000 developers who were able to run apps with 500 MB storage, 200 million megacycles CPU, and 10 GBs of bandwidth per day. After successful results, Google made it a fully-supported official Google Cloud product in 2011. Today Google Cloud Platform is one of the leading public cloud vendors in the world with users including such large organizations as eBay, UPS, PayPal, 20th Century Fox and Twitter
Is Google Cloud Platform Available in Australia?
Google Cloud Platform resources are available under Google’s global infrastructure, with over 25 hosted locations around the world.
Google categorizes its locations according to regions and within regions, there are the availability zones. Google resources can be either be used on a global level, regional (which complies with national data & privacy data laws) , or zonal i.e. available only in one specific zone within a specific region like a data centre in Melbourne vs Sydney.
Google distributes storage across multiple zones within a region for redundancy. As of the beginning of 2020, Google Cloud Platform is reportedly available in 25 regions and 77 zones including Australia. As a user, when building applications on GCP, you can select the locations according to the needs of your business in terms of performance, reliability, scalability, and security.
Google Cloud Platform Services
Google Cloud Platform offers a long list of services, which can be explored based on the technology requirements of your business. GCP includes infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for various Australian businesses. Some of the major services of GCP include computing and hosting, storage and database, networking, big data and machine learning, artificial intelligence, Identity and security & management tools.
Google Cloud Platform Competitors in Australia
Google Cloud Platform has two major competitor products in the market – including Amazon’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. All three solutions are competing to become the dominant player in the Australian market – however we believe Google Cloud Platform offers a unique and diverse collection of services that are easy-to-use, scalable & cost-effective making the platform one of the top serverless development solutions for Australian companies
Google Cloud Platform Advantages for Australian Companies
Google Cloud Platform is a flexible and reliable solution with high performance standards. Here are some of the main advantages of GCP:
- Google Cloud Platform includes an automated deployment of applications that is suitable for the developers preferring to build apps with all their moving parts in the cloud.
- GCP is user-friendly and comes with step-by-step examples of performing common tasks making it an ideal platform for first-time and less technically skilled users.
- The platform comes with excellent documentation processes allowing developers to build applications & make key changes with ease
- Google Cloud Platform uses software-defined networking and edge-caching services for fast, consistent, and scalable performance.
- GCP supports integrations with relevant systems extending the impact of its services – offering niche solutions for Australian companies using a wide range of it products
- GCP offers its users certifications to build their technical expertise.
- According to Google, GCP guarantees 99.95% uptime or reliability which means that the data and servers are available 24/7, all-year-round
How Does GCP Pricing Work?
Similar to other cloud-based solutions, Google Cloud Platform charges for the resources that the services consume – a usage or consumption based pricing model. For each application – GCP services consume a certain amount of fundamental resources such as memory, data storage, processor power, and connectivity. Services which are more intensive – like working with large data sets running live, continuous analytical models – are more costly than lighter applications. The platform uses a pay-per-use approach requiring no upfront or termination charges and also offers discounts for certain usage patterns.
Who Should Use Google Cloud Platform?
While GCP offers flexible services, choosing the right solution according to an organization’s specific needs is an important decision. For example, large organizations that need to issue many permissions on the projects to different members can benefit from Google’s excellent organizational hierarchy, or, businesses that work with large amounts of data can benefit from advanced Big Data, machine learning, and analytics tools without paying extra for the physical machines. Moreover, GCP can be scaled and integrated with other systems, so it can be easily adjusted according to the specific needs of a business. We would recommend GCP as the first choice platform for any Australian business
Future of Google Cloud
Google Cloud Platform is one of the top public cloud service providers in the world. The platform offers an impressive list of constantly evolving and improving solutions that can be tailored to different business needs. By moving to GCP, Australian businesses can benefit from a flexible platform, increased security as well as access to a wide range of new services and tools that are otherwise very costly. Google Cloud Platform is a secure and growing service with a wide coverage across the major capital cities & aborad. According to your own business needs, you should be able to quickly find and effectively use a GCP service to help you achieve your organizational objectives.
Google Cloud Application Development in Australia
If you are looking for assistance in developing your application or product on Google Cloud – we have resources all over Australia to assist you. We service clients all over the country in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane. Our services include application development, web development, mobile applications & digital transformation. Please fill out the form below & our team will be in touch with you shortly
Learn more about the advantages of Google Cloud
Download this easy to read eBook where the experts at Mondo breakdown the unique features of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) compared with Microsoft Azure & Amazon Web Services (AWS)
