SafekipediaGoogle Cloud Platform
Adapted from Wikipedia · Adventurer experience
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a set of cloud computing services from Google. It gives people tools and technology for computing, data storage, data analytics, and machine learning. These services use the same technology that runs popular Google products like Google Search, Gmail, and Google Docs.
GCP offers different types of environments, including infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and serverless computing. This lets users pick the right amount of control and management for what they need.
The story of GCP started in April 2008 when Google announced App Engine. This service helped people build and host web applications in Google-managed data centers. It was Google's first move into cloud computing and became fully available in November 2011. Since then, Google has added many more services to its cloud platform.
Today, Google Cloud Platform is part of a bigger group called Google Cloud. This includes not just the public cloud, but also Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), special versions of Android and ChromeOS for businesses, and various application programming interfaces for advanced technologies. Sometimes people get mixed up because Google now often uses the name "Google Cloud" instead of "Google Cloud Platform."
Products
Google Cloud Platform offers many different products to help people and businesses with their technology needs.
Compute
You can build and run applications using different programming languages with services like App Engine. You can also run virtual machines with Compute Engine, and use containers with Google Kubernetes Engine.
Storage and databases
Google Cloud Platform helps you store and manage data. You can save files and data in different ways, such as with Cloud Storage or Cloud SQL. There are also special databases for big data like Cloud Bigtable and Cloud Spanner.
Networking
These services help connect your applications and data securely. You can set up private networks with VPC, balance traffic with Cloud Load Balancing, and protect your applications with Cloud Armor.
Big data
For working with large amounts of data, Google Cloud Platform offers tools like BigQuery for analyzing data, Cloud Dataflow for processing data, and Dataproc for running big data jobs.
Cloud AI
Google Cloud Platform also provides tools for artificial intelligence and machine learning. You can create custom models with Cloud AutoML, analyze images with Cloud Vision API, and convert speech to text with Cloud Speech-to-Text.
Management tools
There are many tools to help you manage your Google Cloud resources, like the Cloud Console web interface, Cloud Shell for command-line access, and the Operations suite for monitoring your applications.
Identity and security
Google Cloud Platform includes services to help keep your data safe, such as Cloud Identity for single sign-on and Cloud IAM for managing access to your resources.
Internet of things (IoT)
For connecting devices to the internet, Google Cloud Platform offers Cloud IoT Core to manage and connect devices securely.
API platform
You can also build and manage APIs (ways for different software to talk to each other) with services like Maps Platform for maps and routes, and Apigee API Platform for designing and managing APIs.
Regions and zones
A region is a place on Earth where you can set up your online tools and data. Each region is separate and has smaller parts called zones.
A zone is a small area inside a region where you can put your online tools. Most regions have three zones. As of early 2024, Google Cloud Platform works in 40 regions and 121 zones.
| Region Name | Launch Date | Location | Zones |
|---|---|---|---|
| us-west1 | 2016-Q3 | The Dalles, Oregon, United States | us-west1-a us-west1-b us-west1-c |
| us-west2 | 2018-Q3 | Los Angeles, California, United States | us-west2-a us-west2-b us-west2-c |
| us-west3 | 2020-Q1 | Salt Lake City, Utah, United States | us-west3-a us-west3-b us-west3-c |
| us-west4 | 2020-Q2 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | us-west4-a us-west4-b us-west4-c |
| us-central1 | 2009 | Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States | us-central1-a us-central1-b us-central1-c us-central1-f |
| us-east1 | 2015-Q4 | Moncks Corner, South Carolina, United States | us-east1-b us-east1-c us-east1-d |
| us-east4 | 2017-Q2 | Ashburn, Virginia, United States | us-east4-a us-east4-b us-east4-c |
| us-east5 | 2022-Q2 | Columbus, Ohio, United States | us-east5-a us-east5-b us-east5-c |
| us-south1 | 2022-Q2 | Dallas, Texas, United States | us-south1-a us-south1-b us-south1-c |
| northamerica-northeast1 | 2018-Q1 | Montréal, Canada | northamerica-northeast1-a northamerica-northeast1-b northamerica-northeast1-c |
| northamerica-northeast2 | 2021-Q3 | Toronto, Canada | northamerica-northeast2-a northamerica-northeast2-b northamerica-northeast2-c |
| southamerica-east1 | 2017-Q3 | São Paulo, Brazil | southamerica-east1-a southamerica-east1-b southamerica-east1-c |
| southamerica-west1 | 2021-Q3 | Santiago, Chile | southamerica-west1-a southamerica-west1-b southamerica-west1-c |
| europe-west1 | 2013-Q4 | St. Ghislain, Belgium | europe-west1-b europe-west1-c europe-west1-d |
| europe-west2 | 2017-Q2 | London, UK | europe-west2-a europe-west2-b europe-west2-c |
| europe-west3 | 2017-Q3 | Frankfurt, Germany | europe-west3-a europe-west3-b europe-west3-c |
| europe-west4 | 2018-Q1 | Eemshaven, Netherlands | europe-west4-a europe-west4-b europe-west4-c |
| europe-west6 | 2019-Q1 | Zurich, Switzerland | europe-west6-a europe-west6-b europe-west6-c |
| europe-west8 | 2022-Q2 | Milan, Italy | europe-west8-a europe-west8-b europe-west8-c |
| europe-west9 | 2022-Q2 | Paris, France | europe-west9-a europe-west9-b europe-west9-c |
| europe-west10 | 2023-Q3 | Berlin, Germany | europe-west10-a europe-west10-b europe-west10-c |
| europe-west12 | 2023-Q1 | Turin, Italy | europe-west12-a europe-west12-b europe-west12-c |
| europe-central2 | 2021-Q2 | Warsaw, Poland | europe-central2-a europe-central2-b europe-central2-c |
| europe-north1 | 2018-Q2 | Hamina, Finland | europe-north1-a europe-north1-b europe-north1-c |
| europe-southwest1 | 2022-Q2 | Madrid, Spain | europe-southwest1-a europe-southwest1-b europe-southwest1-c |
| me-west1 | 2022-Q4 | Tel Aviv, Israel | me-west1-a me-west1-b me-west1-c |
| me-central1 | 2023-Q2 | Doha, Qatar | me-central1-a me-central1-b me-central1-c |
| me-central2 | 2023-Q4 | Dammam, Saudi Arabia | me-central2-a me-central2-b me-central2-c |
| asia-south1 | 2017-Q4 | Mumbai, India | asia-south1-a asia-south1-b asia-south1-c |
| asia-south2 | 2021-Q2 | Delhi, India | asia-south2-a asia-south2-b asia-south2-c |
| asia-southeast1 | 2017-Q2 | Jurong West, Singapore | asia-southeast1-a asia-southeast1-b asia-southeast1-c |
| asia-southeast2 | 2020-Q2 | Jakarta, Indonesia | asia-southeast2-a asia-southeast2-b asia-southeast2-c |
| asia-east1 | 2013-Q4 | Changhua County, Taiwan | asia-east1-a asia-east1-b asia-east1-c |
| asia-east2 | 2018-Q3 | Hong Kong | asia-east2-a asia-east2-b asia-east2-c |
| asia-northeast1 | 2016-Q4 | Tokyo, Japan | asia-northeast1-a asia-northeast1-b asia-northeast1-c |
| asia-northeast2 | 2019-Q2 | Osaka, Japan | asia-northeast2-a asia-northeast2-b asia-northeast2-c |
| asia-northeast3 | 2020-Q1 | Seoul, Korea | asia-northeast3-a asia-northeast3-b asia-northeast3-c |
| australia-southeast1 | 2017-Q3 | Sydney, Australia | australia-southeast1-a australia-southeast1-b australia-southeast1-c |
| australia-southeast2 | 2021-Q2 | Melbourne, Australia | australia-southeast2-a australia-southeast2-b australia-southeast2-c |
| africa-south1 | 2024-Q1 | Johannesburg, South Africa | africa-south1-a africa-south1-b africa-south1-c |
Similarity to services by other cloud service providers
Main article: Cloud-computing comparison
If you know about other cloud services, comparing them can help you learn what Google Cloud Platform offers. Many big companies have tools for storing data, running programs, and analyzing information. Google Cloud Platform has these same tools. It uses the same technology that powers popular Google products like Google Search and Gmail. This makes it easy for people who use other cloud services to understand how Google’s tools work.
| Google Cloud Platform | Amazon Web Services | Microsoft Azure | Oracle Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Compute Engine | Amazon EC2 | Azure Virtual Machines | Oracle Cloud Infra OCI |
| Google App Engine | AWS Elastic Beanstalk | Azure App Services | Oracle Application Container |
| Google Kubernetes Engine | Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service | Azure Kubernetes Service | Oracle Kubernetes Service |
| Google Cloud Bigtable | Amazon DynamoDB | Azure Cosmos DB | Oracle NoSQL Database |
| Google BigQuery | Amazon Redshift | Azure Synapse Analytics | Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse |
| Google Cloud Functions | AWS Lambda | Azure Functions | Oracle Cloud Fn |
| Google Cloud Datastore | Amazon DynamoDB | Azure Cosmos DB | Oracle NoSQL Database |
| Google Cloud Storage | Amazon S3 | Azure Blob Storage | Oracle Cloud Storage OCI |
Timeline
Google Cloud Platform has grown since 2008 with many new tools and services. In April 2008, Google announced App Engine. In May 2010, it launched Cloud Storage and BigQuery. Over the years, Google added services like Compute Engine, Cloud SQL, and Kubernetes.
In recent years, Google has focused on artificial intelligence and partnerships. In March 2023, it added generative AI capabilities to Google Cloud. In May 2024, it partnered with Airtel to expand its services.
Public customers
In 2023, several well-known companies and organizations started using Google Cloud Platform. These include Kingfisher plc, the Government of Kuwait, Deutsche Börse Group, Unity Technologies, Uber, FanCode, Daimler, and Wix.com. They use GCP to store data, analyze information, and build new services.
This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Google Cloud Platform, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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