Google Cloud is now available in Madrid, Spain, following a recent partnership with Telefonica, growing the tech giant's infrastructure in Europe with its 33rd global location. The new datacenter is intended to boost Google's own cloud needs and improve Spain's internal business ventures as the country attempts to pull itself back up from the economic devastation wrought by the pandemic.
The new venture will allow Madrid's various businesses increased cloud services, low-latency transfers, as well as advanced storage and computing, allotting the region a necessary boost in data protection and over-the-air enterprise needs. Google will provide the region with several zones of cloud infrastructure spread across a myriad of datacenters, giving local businesses access to its data analytics and protection platform called Kubernetes.
"The new Madrid region offers Google Cloud's unique global infrastructure locally, creating new opportunities for digital transformation across every industry and making it easier for organizations at any stage of their cloud journey to securely deliver faster, more reliable customer experiences," Google writes in a blog post.
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Telefónica is one of the world's largest telecommunication network providers, making it among Google's most prestigious and necessary partners as the tech giant swerves across Europe with cloud needs. In addition to bolstering the economy and local businesses in Spain, Google is also keeping a keen interest in maintaining data sovereignty and digital autonomy regarding the country's policymakers and various businesses.
Customer data is valuable, and every country approaches the storing and sharing of said data very differently. Thus Google and Telefónica will work in tandem to ensure data is secured and developed accordingly while utilizing Google's edge computing parameters. A similar partnership was made in Germany with the likes of T-Systems, giving Google a host of options in the area to broaden its cloud infrastructure while still maintaining vigilant standing surrounding local laws on data.
"It is especially important for the alignment with the security levels that public sector organizations demand and as required in the National Security Scheme," explains National Cryptologic Centre's sub-director, Luis Jimenez. "The collaboration with [the] hyperscalers is key. It is also essential to continue advancing with best practices adoption, training, security configurations and supervision."
In late April, Google announced a 2022 investment strategy of building global cloud datacenters with $9.5 billion in the pipeline, one of which cost a whopping $750 million of said budget in Nebraska. The tech firm has plans to add new data centers to regions elsewhere, such as Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar, and much more. Beyond its global reach, Google has likewise partnered up alongside other similar tech giants, most prominent among them being AMD, to provide a wide variety of necessary cloud services to their chip manufacturing workloads.
As the infrastructure grows, Google likewise sees the importance and convictions necessary in its budding cloud technology, highlighting the need to keep the focus on data sovereignty as a driving factor for its cloud business:
"Accelerating digital transformation also requires cloud services that meet regulatory compliance and digital governance requirements. In particular, highly regulated sectors like government, healthcare, and financial services need additional controls to store data and run workloads locally."
