Data Backup Digest

In their latest effort to increase accessibility to large-scale and cloud-based storage, the team with the Google Cloud Platform recently announced the availability of Google Cloud Storage, Google Cloud SQL and Google Compute Engine on the East Coast of the United States. The new functionality of the data center, which is located in Berkeley County, South Carolina, is meant to establish multi-region disaster recovery planning for all applications that utilize the Google Cloud Platform.

At the time of the initial launch, the new data center, sometimes referred to as a storage farm on account of the massive amounts of data it accommodates, provides full support for Google Cloud Storage, Google Cloud SQL and Google Compute Engine. While the Google App Engine is not supported through the initial startup of the South Carolina data center, compatibility for the service will be available soon.

Moreover, the new features of the data center in Berkeley County will also provide a lower latency rate for enterprises that are based on the East Coast, which ultimately increases system performance and, as a result, a company’s productivity.

In tandem with the added data center capabilities, a recent Google blog post also announced the transition of four separate Google Cloud Storage buckets into general availability. Regions including Taiwan, Belgium, Iowa and South Carolina will all be usable with Google’s Nearline Storage as well as their Standard and Durable Reduced Availability plans. As such, users of Google Cloud Storage will be able to position their storage buckets closer to their instances of the Compute Engine.

The recent Google blog post describe some of the highlights of their massive data centers. The blog stated: “These really big data centers are very efficient, have great networking capabilities, take advantage of natural elements such as the cooling effects of snow and seawater, and use renewable energy. They are what lets us give you incredible performance at amazing prices.”

Originally established in 2008, the data center in Berkeley County features thousands of physical servers that support a myriad of Google-based services and offerings. This includes the capabilities of the Google search engine, Gmail, Google+ and even YouTube.

Apart from the latest announcement, Berkeley County’s data center also benefited from a 2013 investment of $600 million, which was used to expand the data center’s presence within Mt. Holly Commerce Park and Berkeley County. This was in addition to the original $600 investment that was used to establish the center back in 2008. Given the large amounts of capital they’ve invested into the East Coast via this one data center alone, it’s safe to say that Google is committed to maintaining their presence in the easternmost United States for many years to come.

For more information on the Google Cloud platform, including details on their services and solutions, physical data center locations, partnership credentials and comprehensive technical documentation, please visit their official web portal at cloud.google.com. To find out more information about Google in general, or to use their popular online search engine, please visit www.google.com.