Google to open five more datacentre regions across the globe in 2018

The Google Cloud Platform is expanding to include five additional datacentre regions and three subsea cables, as the search giant’s pledge to invest $30bn in building out its cloud infrastructure gathers pace.

The company is set to open the first two regions – the Netherlands and Montreal – in the first three months of 2018, with several more to follow in Los Angeles, Finland and Hong Kong, confirmed Google Cloud’s vice-president, Ben Treynor, in a blog post.

“At Google, we have spent $30bn improving our infrastructure over three years, and we’re not done yet. From datacentres to subsea cables, Google is committed to connecting the world and serving our cloud customers,” he said.

Its datacentre expansions suggest adoption of Google’s public cloud services is showing no signs of slowing, after 2017 saw the firm opening around one new region a month to keep up with demand.

The company plans to follow up these openings by commissioning three subsea cables in 2019 that will respectively connect Chile to Los Angeles, the US to Denmark and Ireland, and Hong Kong to other communication hubs in Asia.

The Chile to Los Angeles connection, dubbed Curie, is of particular significance to the firm, as it reportedly marks Google out as the first non-telco to build a private intercontinental cable.

“Owning the cable ourselves has some distinct benefits. Since we control the design and construction process, we can fully define the cable’s technical specifications, streamline deployment, and deliver service to users and customers faster. Also, once the cable is deployed, we can make routing decisions that optimise for latency and availability,” said Treynor.

The remaining two cables will be constructed in collaboration with a number of other parties, with the US to Denmark and Ireland deployment featuring the input of Facebook, Aqua Comms and Bulk Infrastructure, for example.

When the three are complete, the number of cables Google owns and operates around the world to support its cloud platform and online services will total 11.

“These new investments expand our existing cloud network. The Google network has more than 100 points of presence and over 7,500 edge caching nodes. This investment means faster and more reliable connectivity for all our users,” said Treynor.

“Our cable systems provide the speed, capacity and reliability Google is known for worldwide, and at Google Cloud, our customers are able to make use of the same network infrastructure that powers Google’s own services.”