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Google Cloud Next certainly made a significant impact in Las Vegas this week, providing a platform for showcasing the transformative effects of AI on business operations. The event kicked off with an opening keynote that highlighted remarkable customer achievements and introduced a series of exciting product announcements, emphasizing the central role of AI in modern enterprise environments. Those who missed the live events can quickly catch up on these developments through a concise 14-minute recap of the keynote.
The event placed a special focus on developers, positioning them at the heart of the discussions during the Developer keynote. Additionally, the Innovators Hive on the Expo floor was a major attraction, expanding to triple its size from previous years, reflecting the growing interest and investment in innovation. This space allowed developers and innovators to engage directly with the latest technologies and ideas in the field.
The involvement of nearly 400 partner sponsors also added a dynamic element to the event. These partners were not only present on the show floor but were actively involved in various sessions and contributed to the vibrancy of evening events throughout the week. This integration of partners underscores the collaborative spirit of Google Cloud Next, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and insights across the cloud computing ecosystem.
Google Cloud Next '24 truly lived up to the anticipation, spotlighting the practical applications and transformative impact of generative AI in the workplace. This year, the focus was on demonstrating real-world uses, featuring over 300 customer and partner stories that illustrated how AI is reshaping various industries and business processes.
The event was rich in content with more than 500 breakout sessions, which provided attendees with an array of learning opportunities, from hands-on demos to interactive training sessions. These activities were designed to deepen understanding and enhance skills, enabling participants to leverage Google Cloud technologies more effectively in their respective fields.
Given the extensive range of topics and innovations presented throughout the week, a comprehensive summary of the announcements has been compiled. This summary is aimed at distilling the key points and highlights, showcasing how Google Cloud is pioneering new approaches to cloud computing. This resource will be particularly valuable for those who want to grasp the overarching themes of the event and understand how Google Cloud is setting new standards in the tech landscape, facilitating a more innovative, AI-integrated way to cloud.
Gemini for Google Cloud
Google's recent announcements at Google Cloud Next '24 highlighted the expansion of the Gemini family of models, showcasing a variety of new and enhanced tools designed to empower teams to leverage AI across different aspects of cloud computing:
2. Gemini Code Assist: Building on the foundations of Duet AI for Developers, Gemini Code Assist represents an evolution in coding assistance. This tool helps developers write more efficient code faster, offering real-time suggestions and automated code completion.
3. Gemini Cloud Assist: This tool is designed to aid cloud teams in designing, operating, and optimizing the lifecycle of their applications. It leverages AI to provide actionable insights and recommendations, streamlining cloud operations and improving efficiency.
5. Gemini in BigQuery: Currently in preview, this tool helps data analysts enhance their productivity. It improves query performance and assists in optimizing costs throughout the analytics lifecycle, enabling more efficient data management and analysis.
6. Gemini in Looker: In a private preview, this feature creates a dedicated space within Looker where users can initiate chats about any data-related topic to quickly derive insights, making it easier for users to interact with and extract value from their data.
7. Gemini in Databases: Also in preview, this model supports developers, operators, and database administrators in building applications faster using natural language. It facilitates the management, optimization, and governance of databases from a centralized interface and accelerates database migrations.
Customer Stories
The announcements at Google Cloud Next '24 included a wide array of new customer engagements, showcasing the diverse applications of generative AI across various sectors. Here's a summary of these significant collaborations:
8. Cintas: This company is utilizing Google Cloud’s generative AI to develop an internal knowledge center. This tool will allow customer service and sales employees to quickly access crucial information, enhancing efficiency and service quality.9. Bayer: Bayer is developing a radiology platform using Google Cloud, aimed at helping itself and other companies create and deploy AI-first healthcare applications. These tools are designed to assist radiologists in improving efficiency and reducing diagnosis turnaround times.
10. Best Buy: Best Buy is adopting Google Cloud’s Gemini large language model to create innovative and convenient solutions for customers. This includes generative AI virtual assistants that can troubleshoot product issues, reschedule deliveries, and more.
11. Citadel Securities: This financial institution has leveraged Google Cloud to enhance its quantitative research platform, boosting research productivity and improving the price-performance ratio.
12. Discover Financial: Discover is transforming its customer experience by integrating generative AI into its customer contact centers. This technology enhances agent productivity through personalized solutions, intelligent document summarization, real-time search assistance, and improved self-service options.
13. IHG Hotels & Resorts: IHG is using Gemini to develop a generative AI-powered chatbot in its IHG Hotels & Rewards mobile app, making vacation planning more accessible and efficient for guests.
14. Mercedes-Benz: Mercedes-Benz is expanding its collaboration with Google Cloud, utilizing AI and generative AI technologies to enhance customer-facing applications in e-commerce, customer service, and marketing.
15. Orange: This telecommunications giant is expanding its partnership with Google Cloud to deploy generative AI closer to its operations and those of its customers, facilitating trusted cloud environments and accelerating generative AI adoption in areas such as autonomous networks, workforce productivity, and customer experience.
16. WPP: The global creative agency is leveraging Google Cloud’s generative AI capabilities to enhance personalization, creativity, and efficiency across its operations. WPP has already noted significant internal benefits, including real-time campaign performance analysis and streamlined content creation processes.
17. Covered California: California's health insurance marketplace is simplifying the healthcare enrollment process using Google Cloud’s Document AI. This technology enables the organization to verify over 50,000 healthcare documents monthly with an 84% verification rate.
These partnerships highlight the growing importance of generative AI in transforming business processes and enhancing customer experiences across a broad spectrum of industries.
Workspace and Collaboration
The latest updates to Google Workspace include a suite of enhancements and new features aimed at boosting productivity, enhancing security, and integrating advanced AI capabilities into everyday work processes. Here’s an overview of the major innovations coming to Google Workspace:
18. Google Vids: This AI-powered video creation app is a key part of the Google Workspace suite, which includes Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google Vids is set to launch in Workspace Labs in June, offering professional-grade video production capabilities that integrate seamlessly with existing tools.
19. Gemini in Google Chat: Introducing an AI-powered assistant within Google Chat, this feature enables users to summarize conversations, answer questions, and more, enhancing the efficiency of workplace communications.
20. AI Meetings and Messaging Add-on: Priced at $10 per user per month, this add-on includes several features such as "Take notes for me," "Translate for me," which will automatically detect and translate captions in Meet starting in June, and features for automatic translation of messages and on-demand conversation summaries in Google Chat to be released later this year.
21. Enhanced Spam Protection in Gmail: Leveraging large language models, Gmail now blocks an additional 20% of spam and processes 1,000 times more user-reported spam each day, significantly enhancing email security and user experience.
22. AI Security Add-on: This new add-on, available for $10 per user per month, allows IT teams to automatically classify and protect sensitive files across Google Drive, reinforcing data security across the organization.
23. Extended DLP Controls and Classification Labels to Gmail: Now in beta, these extended Data Loss Prevention (DLP) controls and classification labels enhance the security and compliance capabilities within Gmail.
24. Experimental Support for Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC): In collaboration with partners Thales and Fortanix, Google is adding experimental support for post-quantum cryptography in client-side encryption, preparing its platforms for future security challenges.
25. Voice Prompting and Instant Polish in Gmail: Enhancing email functionality, this feature allows users to send emails using voice input and instantly convert rough notes into polished emails with one click.
26. New Tables Feature in Sheets: Soon to be generally available, this feature offers new templates for project management and event planning, helping users format and organize data efficiently and attractively.
27. Tabs in Docs: Also set to be generally available in the coming weeks, this feature allows users to organize information within a single document using tabs, reducing the need to link to multiple documents or search through Google Drive.
28. Full-Bleed Cover Images in Docs: Enhancing document aesthetics, this new feature supports full-bleed cover images that extend from one edge of the browser to the other, available in the coming weeks.
29. Increased Member Capacity in Chat: Google Chat will soon support up to 500,000 members in spaces, significantly expanding its capacity for large-scale communications.
30. Messaging Interoperability for Slack and Teams: Through a partnership with Mio, this functionality allows for seamless messaging interoperability between Google Chat, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, enhancing cross-platform communication capabilities.
AI infrastructure
31. The Cloud TPU v5p GA: Now generally available, Cloud TPU v5p enhances Google's infrastructure, supporting more efficient machine learning workloads.
32. Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) now supports Cloud TPU v5p and TPU multi-host serving: These enhancements, also now generally available, allow for more robust and scalable AI deployments within GKE environments.
33. A3 Mega compute instance powered by NVIDIA H100 GPUs: Scheduled for general availability in May, this instance offers double the GPU-to-GPU networking bandwidth compared to its predecessor, significantly boosting computational power.
34. Confidential Computing in the A3 VM family: Coming in preview later this year, this feature will enhance the security capabilities of the A3 VMs, safeguarding sensitive computations.
35. NVIDIA Blackwell GPU platform on AI Hypercomputer architecture: Available in two configurations, the NVIDIA HGX B200 for demanding AI, data analytics, and HPC workloads, and the liquid-cooled GB200 NVL72 GPU for real-time LLM inference and training massive-scale models.
36. New caching capabilities for Cloud Storage FUSE: These enhancements, now generally available, improve training throughput and serving performance for machine learning models.
37. Parallelstore high-performance parallel filesystem now includes caching: Currently in preview, this feature boosts performance in data-intensive scenarios.
38. Hyperdisk ML: In preview, this next-generation block storage service is optimized for AI inference and serving workloads, enhancing speed and efficiency.
39. MaxDiffusion: This new open-source, high-performance, and scalable reference implementation for diffusion models offers advanced capabilities in model training and implementation.
40. MaxText, a JAX LLM: Now supports new LLM models including Gemma, GPT3, LLAMA2, and Mistral across both Cloud TPUs and NVIDIA GPUs, expanding its versatility.
41. PyTorch/XLA 2.3: Set to follow the upstream release later this month, this update brings significant enhancements such as SPMD auto-sharding and asynchronous distributed checkpointing.
42. Hugging Face PyTorch Optimum-TPU package: Enables training and serving of Hugging Face models on TPUs, optimizing performance for these popular models.
43. Jetstream: A new open-source LLM inference engine optimized for XLA devices, initially supporting TPUs. It provides throughput- and memory-optimized inference for models trained with JAX and PyTorch/XLA.
44. Google models available as NVIDIA NIM inference microservices: This integration allows for streamlined deployment and scaling of Google’s AI models on NVIDIA's infrastructure.
45. Dynamic Workload Scheduler: Now offers two new modes in preview: flex start mode and calendar mode, providing more flexible scheduling options for computational tasks.
46. Latest performance results from MLPerf™ Inference v4.0: Utilizing A3 VMs powered by NVIDIA H100 GPUs, showcasing enhanced performance benchmarks.
47. Performance benchmarks for Gemma models: Using Cloud TPU v5e and JetStream, providing insights into the efficiency and capability of these setups.
48. Introduced ML Productivity Goodput: A new metric to measure the efficiency of an overall ML system, complete with an API for integration into projects and methods to maximize this new metric’s utility.
Vertex AI
49. Gemini 1.5 Pro in public preview on Vertex AI: This updated version brings the world’s largest context window to developers, significantly enhancing AI's understanding and generation capabilities.
50. Gemini 1.5 Pro’s new features: Now supports processing audio streams, including speech and the audio from videos, expanding its utility in multimedia applications.
51. Imagen 2.0: This updated image generation model can now create short, 4-second live images from text prompts, pushing the boundaries of creative image generation.
52. Image editing in Imagen 2.0: Now generally available, features include inpainting/outpainting and digital watermarking, powered by Google DeepMind’s SynthID, enhancing the model’s functionality in image manipulation.
53. CodeGemma: A new addition to the Gemma family of lightweight models on Vertex AI, designed to optimize code-related tasks within AI workflows.
54. Expanded grounding capabilities in Vertex AI: Now includes the ability to ground responses directly with Google Search, available in public preview, enhancing the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated content.
55. Vertex AI Prompt Management: Currently in preview, this tool helps teams optimize and improve the performance of their AI prompts.
56. Vertex AI Rapid Evaluation: Also in preview, this feature allows users to quickly evaluate model performance, aiding in the rapid iteration and optimization of prompt designs.
57. Vertex AI AutoSxS: Now generally available, this feature facilitates the comparison of two models’ performance, helping teams make informed decisions about model deployment.
58. Expanded data residency guarantees: Now includes data stored at-rest for Gemini, Imagen, and Embeddings APIs on Vertex AI to 11 new countries, ensuring compliance with local data regulations.
59. Data processing localization for Gemini 1.0 Pro and Imagen: Users can now restrict machine learning processing to the United States or European Union, addressing data sovereignty concerns.
60. Vertex AI hybrid search: In preview, this new search capability integrates vector-based and keyword-based search techniques, ensuring more relevant and precise search results.
61. Vertex AI Agent Builder: Allows developers to build and deploy generative AI experiences using natural language or open-source frameworks like LangChain, currently in preview.
62. New text embedding models on Vertex AI: Includes two new models in public preview— the English-only "text-embedding-preview-0409" and the multilingual "text-multilingual-embedding-preview-0409," broadening the linguistic capabilities of AI applications.
Core infrastructure
Thomas with the Google Axion chip63. Expanded Compute Portfolio: Major product releases for compute and storage, addressing both general-purpose and specialized workloads.
64. Google Axion: Google's first custom Arm-based CPU for data centers, entering preview soon.
65. Compute Engine C4 VM: Now in preview, offers high performance and controlled maintenance for critical workloads.
66. N4 Machine Series: Built for optimal price-performance with Dynamic Resource Management, now generally available.
67. C3 Bare-Metal Machines: Providing direct access to server resources, available in preview soon.
68. X4 Memory-Optimized Instances: Now in preview for users who fill out an interest form.
69. Z3 VMs: Optimized for storage-dense workloads requiring SSD, generally available.
70. Hyperdisk Storage Pools Advanced Capacity: Now generally available, with Advanced Performance in preview.
71. Hyperdisk Instant Snapshots: Offering near-zero RPO/RTO for volumes, coming to general availability in May.
72. Google Compute Engine Flexibilities: New features include zonal flexibility, VM family flexibility, and mixed on-demand and spot consumption.
Google Distributed Cloud (GDC):
73. Generative AI Search Solution: Powered by Gemma models, available in preview in Q2 2024 for on-premises or edge data management.
74. ISO27001 and SOC2 Compliance: GDC has now achieved these security compliance certifications.
75. Managed IDPS: Integrating Palo Alto Networks technology, now generally available.
76. GDC Sandbox: Aids developers in building and testing GDC-specific services, currently in preview.
77. GDC Storage Flexibility: Preview feature allowing independent growth of storage and compute resources.
78. Disconnected Mode: GDC can now operate offline for up to seven days, generally available.
79. Managed GDC Providers: New providers include Clarence, T-Systems, and WWT, with a new Google Cloud Ready badge for solutions optimized for GDC.
80. GDC Servers with NVIDIA L4 GPU: Energy-efficient GPUs now available for GDC servers.
81. GDC Hosted for U.S. Intelligence and DoD: Now authorized for top-secret missions.
Google Cloud Networking:
82. Gemini Cloud Assist: AI-based networking assistance, now in preview.
83. Model as a Service Endpoint: Combines several services for model endpoint management, now generally available.
84. Cloud Load Balancing Enhancements: Set to introduce features for inference workloads later this year.
85. Cloud Service Mesh: Combines Traffic Director with Google’s Anthos Service Mesh, fully managed.
Cross-Cloud Network:
86. Private Service Connect Transitivity: Enables transitive accessibility across spoke VPCs, in preview this quarter.
87. Cloud NGFW Enterprise: Network threat protection powered by Palo Alto Networks, now generally available.
88. Identity-Based Authorization with mTLS: Integrates Identity-Aware Proxy with application load balancing, supporting Zero Trust access.
89. In-Line Network DLP: Set to integrate Symantec DLP into network services soon.
90. Service Extensions Integrations: Includes new partners and services for enhanced web protection.
91. Service Extensions Library: Offers code examples for customizing network traffic management.
92. Private Service Connect with Cloud SQL: Now fully integrated and generally available.
Google Cloud Storage and Data Management:
93. Gemini Insights for Storage: Analyze storage usage and optimize costs via natural language, available in an experimental phase.
94. Google Cloud NetApp Volumes: Expanding to new regions with enhancements for dynamic file migration and increased capacity, coming soon.
95. Filestore Enhancements: Supports single-share backup and NFS v4.1, with expanded capacity options.
For Cloud Storage:
96. Cloud Storage Anywhere Cache: This feature now utilizes zonal SSD read cache across multiple regions within a continent to enhance data access speeds and reliability. It is available on an allowlist basis in its General Availability (GA) phase.
97. Cloud Storage Soft Delete: This feature is now generally available and designed to protect against accidental or malicious deletion of data. It preserves deleted items for a configurable period, allowing recovery options to safeguard important information.
98. Cloud Storage Managed Folders: Also generally available, this new resource type enables more granular IAM permissions. It allows administrators to apply specific access controls to groups of objects within Cloud Storage, enhancing security and management capabilities.
99. Tag-Based At-Scale Backup: This now generally available feature facilitates the management of data protection for Compute Engine VMs. By using tags, administrators can more easily organize and automate backup tasks across a large number of virtual machines, simplifying large-scale data management.
100. High-Performance Backup for SAP HANA: Leveraging persistent disk snapshot capabilities, this new backup option is tailored for SAP HANA databases. It is now generally available and offers database-aware backups that ensure data integrity and rapid recovery, which is critical for enterprise environments running SAP applications.
101. Backup and DR Service Report Manager: Part of this enhanced service, now generally available, allows for the customization of backup and disaster recovery reports. Users can integrate data from Google Cloud Backup and DR with tools such as Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Logging, and BigQuery to create detailed, actionable insights into their backup and recovery operations.
Databases
Gemini in Databases Enhancements:
102. Database Studio: This tool, part of Gemini in Databases, introduces SQL generation and summarization within a rich SQL editor in the Google Cloud console, complemented by an AI-driven chat interface for streamlined database interactions.
103. Database Center: Allows operators to manage an entire fleet of databases via intelligent dashboards that proactively assess and optimize for availability, data protection, security, and compliance, alongside smart recommendations for performance optimization and troubleshooting.
104. Database Migration Service: Integrated with Gemini in Databases, this service includes assistive features for code conversion (e.g., from Oracle to PostgreSQL) and provides explainability for these transformations.
AlloyDB Functionalities:
105. AlloyDB AI: Enables generative AI developers to build applications that query data accurately using natural language, comparable to SQL commands; currently available in AlloyDB Omni.
106. AlloyDB AI ScaNN Index: Introduces a new pgvector-compatible index based on Google’s approximate nearest neighbor algorithms, available as a technology preview in AlloyDB Omni.
107. AlloyDB Model Endpoint Management: Simplifies the process of calling remote Vertex AI, third-party, and custom models; available now in AlloyDB Omni and soon on AlloyDB in Google Cloud.
108. AlloyDB AI Parameterized Secure Views: Enhances data security by adapting data visibility based on the end-users' context; available now in AlloyDB Omni.
Bigtable Enhancements:
109. Bigtable Data Boost: This pre-GA offering provides high-performance, workload-isolated, on-demand processing capabilities for transactional data without impacting operational workloads.
110. Bigtable Authorized Views: Now generally available, these views enable secure data sharing directly from the database across multiple teams.
111. Bigtable Distributed Counters: Currently in preview, these counters process high-frequency event data, such as clickstreams, directly in the database.
112. Bigtable Large Nodes: These nodes, now in private preview, offer more performance stability at higher utilization rates and are designed for specific workloads.
Memorystore for Redis Cluster Updates:
113. Persistence Support & New Node Shapes: Now supports both AOF and RDB-based persistence with new node shapes that enhance performance and cost management.
114. Ultra-Fast Vector Search: This feature is now generally available within the service.
115. New Configuration Options: Currently in preview, these options allow for tuning of max clients, max memory, max memory policies, and more.
Firestore Enhancements:
116. Gemini Code Assist for Firestore: Incorporates assistive AI capabilities to aid development within Firestore.
117. Vector Search and AI Integrations: Built-in support for vector search using exact nearest neighbors, automatic generation of vector embeddings, and integrations with generative AI libraries such as LangChain and LlamaIndex.
118. Firestore Query Explain: Currently in preview, this tool aids in troubleshooting queries.
119. Customer Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK): Now in preview, allowing data at-rest encryption with user-specified keys.
120. Regional Deployment & Extended Backup Retention: Firestore can now be deployed in any supported Google Cloud region, with the Scheduled Backup feature now retaining backups for up to 98 days.
121. Cloud SQL Enterprise Plus Edition: Offers advanced failover capabilities, including orchestrated switchover and switchback, enhancing reliability and operational flexibility.
Data analytics
BigQuery as a Unified Data-to-AI Platform:
122. Integrated Platform for Data to AI Workloads: BigQuery now serves as Google Cloud’s single integrated platform for such workloads. BigLake, BigQuery’s unified storage engine, offers a single interface for both BigQuery native and open formats, optimizing analytics and AI operations.
123. Enhanced Support for Iceberg and Delta Formats: BigQuery has improved support for Iceberg, including DDL, DML, and high-throughput, all in preview. Simultaneously, BigLake now supports the Delta file format, also in preview.
124. BigQuery Continuous Queries: Currently in preview, this feature enables continuous SQL processing over data streams, facilitating real-time data pipelines with AI operators or reverse ETL capabilities.
Enhancements with Gemini in BigQuery:
125. Integrations with Gemini Models in Vertex AI: These integrations support multimodal analytics, vector embeddings, and the fine-tuning of large language models (LLMs) directly within BigQuery.
126. BigQuery Studio: This new feature provides a collaborative data workspace where users can utilize SQL, Python, Spark, or natural language. It integrates capabilities for real-time streaming and governance and is now generally available.
127. BigQuery Data Canvas: Offers a notebook-like experience with embedded visualizations and natural language support, enhanced by Gemini’s capabilities.
128. Seamless Data Connection with Vertex AI: BigQuery can now directly connect to models in Vertex AI using enterprise data without the need to relocate or copy data.
129. BigQuery with Gemini 1.0 Pro Vision: This new functionality allows users to analyze images and videos alongside text prompts using familiar SQL commands, blending visual data processing with traditional data analytics.
130. Column-Level Lineage: Soon to be in preview, this feature provides detailed insights into data origins and transformations within BigQuery and expands lineage capabilities for Vertex AI pipelines.
Additional Updates in Data Analytics Portfolio:
131. Apache Kafka for BigQuery: Now available as a managed service in preview, this integration enables real-time streaming data workloads leveraging open source APIs.
132. Serverless Engine for Apache Spark: Integrated within BigQuery Studio, this serverless engine is now in preview, enhancing the processing of large-scale data workloads.
133. Dataplex Enhancements: Features expanded data-to-AI governance capabilities, currently in preview, to better manage and secure data across environments.
Developers & operators
Enhancements in Gemini Code Assist:
Features for Cloud Run and GKE:
Updates in Cloud Billing Tools:
148. New BigQuery Data View for FOCUS: Enables cost and usage comparisons across different clouds.
Security
Updates in Security Operations:
154. Assisted Investigation Feature: Set to be generally available by the end of this month, this feature in Chronicle Enterprise and Chronicle Enterprise Plus guides analysts through their investigative workflows.
155. Mandiant Threat Intelligence: Analysts can now access the latest threat intelligence from Mandiant directly within their workflow, including indicators of compromise found in their environments.
156. Gemini in Threat Intelligence: Now in public preview, this feature allows analysts to leverage Mandiant’s frontline threat intelligence using conversational search.
157. VirusTotal OSINT Report Integration: VirusTotal now automatically ingests OSINT reports and provides summaries within the platform, a feature that is generally available.
158. Gemini in Security Command Center: Enhances the ability to search for threats and security events using natural language, now in preview. It also summarizes critical and high-priority misconfiguration and vulnerability alerts and provides insights into attack paths.
159. Gemini Cloud Assist in Security: Helps with security tasks by providing IAM Recommendations, Key Insights for encryption key management, and Confidential Computing Insights to add protection to sensitive workloads.
Chrome and Google Security Operations Enhancements:
160. Chrome Enterprise Premium: Now generally available, this service combines the popular browser with advanced security features including Google threat and data protection, Zero Trust access controls, enterprise policy controls, and security insights and reporting.
161. Applied Threat Intelligence: Now generally available in Google Security Operations, this feature applies global threat visibility to each customer’s unique environment.
162. Security Command Center Enterprise: Now generally available, includes Mandiant Hunt which is currently in preview.
163. IAM Privileged Access Manager (PAM): Now in preview, PAM provides just-in-time, time-bound, and approval-based access elevations.
164. IAM Principal Access Boundary (PAB): Now in preview, this new control enforces restrictions on IAM principals, enhancing security measures.
165. Cloud Next-Gen Firewall (NGFW) Enterprise: Now generally available, includes threat protection features from Palo Alto Networks.
166. Cloud Armor Enterprise: Now generally available, this offers a pay-as-you-go model with advanced network DDoS protection, web application firewall capabilities, and more.
167. Sensitive Data Protection for Cloud SQL: Now generally available, this feature is integrated into the Security Command Center Enterprise risk engine.
168. Autokey for Key Management: Now in preview, simplifies the creation and management of customer encryption keys (CMEK).
169. Bare Metal HSM Deployments: Now available in more regions, suitable for PCI-compliant facilities.
170. Regional Controls for Assured Workloads: Now in preview, available in 32 cloud regions across 14 countries.
171. Audit Manager: Now in preview, automates control verification with proof of compliance for Google Cloud workloads and data.
172. Advanced API Security with Apigee: Now offers shadow API detection, currently in preview.
Innovations in Confidential Computing:
173. Confidential VMs on Intel TDX: Now in preview on the C3 machine series, supports Intel AMX for AI and ML workloads, offering CPU-based acceleration by default.
174. Confidential VMs on N2D Machine Series with AMD SEV-SNP: Now in preview, enhancing security for general-purpose computing.
175. Live Migration on Confidential VMs: Now in general availability across all regions on the N2D machine series.
176. Confidential VMs with NVIDIA Tensor Core H100 GPUs: Scheduled for private preview later this year on the A3 machine series.
Migration
Rapid Migration Program (RaMP):
177. RaMP for Storage: This segment of the Rapid Migration Program now includes free storage egress costs from Amazon S3 to Google Cloud Storage. Additionally, Cloud Storage’s client libraries for Python, Node.js, and Java have been updated to support parallelization of uploads and downloads, enhancing efficiency.
Migration Center Enhancements:
178. Migration Use Case Navigator: This tool helps plan resource migrations (servers, databases, data warehouses, etc.) from on-premises or other cloud environments to Google Cloud, including new Cloud Spend Estimators for rapid total cost of ownership assessments for VMware and Exadata environments.
179. Database Discovery and Assessment: Specifically tailored for Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL to Cloud SQL migrations, facilitating easier database migration planning and execution.
Google Cloud VMware Engine Updates:
180. VMware Cloud Foundation License Portability: Announced the intent to support license portability, enhancing flexibility for users.
181. Larger Instance Types: The general availability of a larger instance type (ve2-standard-128) caters to more demanding workloads.
182. Networking Enhancements: Includes next-gen VMware Engine Networking, automated zero-config VPC peering, and Cloud DNS for VMware workloads.
183. Terraform Automation: Supports Infrastructure as Code deployments, simplifying cloud infrastructure management.
Migrate to Virtual Machines:
184. Disk Migration Solution: A new service for migrating disk volumes to Google Cloud.
185. Image Import: Now in preview as a managed service, simplifying the import of on-premises VM images to Google Cloud.
186. BIOS to UEFI Conversion: Available in preview, this feature automatically converts legacy BIOS bootloaders to the modern UEFI format.
187. Amazon Linux Conversion: Also in preview, this service converts Amazon Linux to Rocky Linux on Google Compute Engine.
188. CMEK Support: Enhances security by allowing customers to manage their own encryption keys during the migration process.
Replatforming VMs to Containers:
189. Migrate to Containers CLI (M2C): Generates deployment artifacts for GKE or Cloud Run, facilitating the containerization of VM-based applications.
190. M2C Cloud Code Extension: Currently in preview, this Visual Studio extension assists in migrating applications from VMs to containers directly within the development environment.
Database Migration Service Improvements:
191. AI-Powered Code Conversion: Offers last-mile code conversion from Oracle to PostgreSQL using AI technology.
192. SQL Server to Cloud SQL Migration: Now in preview, this service migrates SQL Server databases to Cloud SQL for SQL Server.
193. Datastream for SQL Server CDC: Supports SQL Server as a source for Change Data Capture, moving data to BigQuery destinations.
Mainframe Migration Capabilities:
194. Mainframe Assessment Tool (MAT): Now powered by generative AI, MAT analyzes mainframe application codebases, performs fit assessments, and creates application-level summarizations and test cases.
195. Mainframe Connector: Facilitates the transfer of mainframe data to BigQuery for analytics outside the mainframe environment.
196. G4: Refactors mainframe application code and data (COBOL, RPG, JCL, etc.) to modern programming languages like JAVA.
197. Dual Run: Allows for parallel operations of new systems alongside existing mainframes, ensuring the new solution matches the completeness, quality, and effectiveness of the current system.
Partners & Ecosystem
Partner Ecosystem and Innovations:
198. AI Solutions Showcased: Over 100 solutions leveraging Google AI were displayed on the Next ‘24 show floor by various partners.
199. Partner of the Year Awards: The 2024 Google Cloud Partner of the Year winners were announced, celebrating exceptional contributions in various sectors.
200. SAP Generative AI Hub: Gemini models will now be available, integrating Google Cloud AI with SAP’s services.
201. GitLab Integrations: GitLab has enhanced its collaboration with Google Cloud, announcing public beta versions of its authentication, security, and CI/CD integrations.
202. Palo Alto Networks Partnership: Named Google Cloud its AI provider of choice for enhancing threat analysis and incident summarization on its Cortex XSIAM platform.
203. Exabeam’s AI Integration: Utilizes Google Cloud AI to improve security outcomes for its customers.
204. Optiv Expansion: This global managed security services company is broadening its support for Google Cloud products.
205. Innovations by Alteryx, Dynatrace, and Harness: These companies are introducing new features built with Google Cloud AI to automate workflows and enhance data governance and management.
Google Cloud Initiatives and Specializations:
206. Generative AI Services Specialization: A new program for partners demonstrating advanced technical proficiency with Google Cloud's generative AI technologies.
207. Training Programs: New Generative AI Delivery Excellence and Technical Bootcamps, along with advanced Challenge Labs, were introduced to boost skills in AI and cloud technologies.
208. New Partners: The BigQuery initiative has expanded significantly with the addition of 21 new partners. These partners include:
- Actable, AgileData, Amplitude: These companies are known for their robust data analytics and visualization tools.
- Boostkpi, CaliberMind, Calibrate Analytics, CloudQuery: Offer various solutions from performance management to query service enhancements.
- DBeaver, Decube, DinMo, Estuary: Provide database management and integration services.
- Followrabbit, Gretel, Portable, Precog: Specialize in data integration and privacy.
- Retool, SheetGo, Tecton, Unravel Data: Focus on application development, data connectivity, machine learning operations, and data performance monitoring.
- Vallidio, Vaultree: Known for their innovative approaches to data security and encryption.
209. New Partners: AlloyDB has also welcomed new partners, strengthening its database service offerings:
- Boostkpi, DBeaver, Estuary: These partners bring enhanced data operations and database management tools to the AlloyDB ecosystem.
- Redis, Thoughtspot: Known for their capabilities in in-memory database technology and business intelligence.
- SeeBurger: Specializes in business integration and secure data transfer services.
210. New Partners: The Cloud SQL service has grown with the addition of five partners:
- BoostKPI, DBeaver, Estuary, Redis, Thoughtspot: These companies bring a wealth of expertise from database management to in-memory data structures and business intelligence solutions.
211. Crowdstrike Integration: Crowdstrike is enhancing its collaboration with Google Cloud by integrating its Falcon Platform.
Google for Startups Program Enhancements:
212. The Google for Startups Cloud Program has a new partnership with the NVIDIA Inception startup program. The benefits include providing Inception members with access to Google Cloud credits, go-to-market support, technical expertise, and fast-tracked onboarding to Google Cloud Marketplace.
213. As part of the NVIDIA Inception partnership, Google for Startups Cloud Program members can join NVIDIA Inception and gain access to technological expertise, NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute course credits, NVIDIA hardware and software, and more. Eligible members of the Google for Startups Cloud Program also can participate in NVIDIA Inception Capital Connect, a platform that gives startups exposure to venture capital firms interested in the space.
214. Google for Startups Accelerator: AI-First: Launched for U.S. and Canadian AI startups, this program includes an impressive cohort of companies innovating in AI.
215. Startup Learning Center and Innovators Plus: These initiatives offer curated educational content and resources to support startup growth and development on Google Cloud.
Google Cloud Consulting Services:
216. On-Demand Training and Skill Badges: Google Cloud Consulting is now offering no-cost training through Google Cloud Skills Boost, including new badges focused on generative AI.
217. Isolator Solution for Healthcare: Protects sensitive healthcare data in collaborative settings, utilizing a suite of Google Cloud technologies.
218. Delivery Navigator: Now generally available to all Google Cloud qualified services partners, this tool facilitates the effective delivery of Google Cloud projects.
What a week it has been and we're excited with all that is announced. Connect with us if you want to dive deeper into the Google announcements and how it can be applied to your business.
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