Google Cloud
Google's public cloud, with particular strength in data analytics, machine learning and container orchestration.
What the architecture looks like underneath
What it is
Understanding Google Cloud
Google Cloud is a public cloud provider whose differentiating services cluster around data and machine learning — BigQuery for analytics at scale, and a mature managed Kubernetes offering, given Kubernetes originated at Google.
Why it matters
For analytics-heavy workloads, separation of storage and compute with per-query billing can change the economics of large-scale analysis. For container-based platforms, the managed Kubernetes experience is well established.
Problems it addresses
- “Our analytics workloads are constrained by warehouse capacity.”
- “We need to run large-scale analysis without provisioning for peak.”
- “Our container platform is expensive to operate ourselves.”
Capabilities
Data platform architecture
BigQuery-centered analytics architecture and cost modeling.
GKE and container platforms
Managed Kubernetes with an appropriate operational model.
Migration
Workload assessment and migration.
Cost governance
Query cost control, slot management and attribution.
Use cases
Large-scale analytics
Serverless analytics over very large datasets without capacity planning.
Container platform
Managed Kubernetes for teams without a dedicated platform function.
ML and data workloads
Training and inference infrastructure alongside the analytics platform holding the data.
Before you commit
Prerequisites, governance and risks
The questions that determine whether this will work in your environment, rather than in a demonstration.
What has to be true first
- Project and folder hierarchy design
- Query cost governance before broad analytics access
- Identity federation with the existing directory
Governance
Consumption-based analytics pricing means an ungoverned query can be expensive. Cost controls, quotas and query review are governance requirements rather than optimizations.
Risks
- Unbounded query cost without quotas and monitoring
- Smaller enterprise application ecosystem than the other major providers
Where Google Cloud leads
Every connection below is recorded in the content itself, and each one says why it is here.
Capabilities
Technologies
Sectors
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