Google has announced plans to open two new data centres in the UK as it looks to meet growing demand for its cloud services. The new facilities will be located in London and Wales.
Background on Google Cloud
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the company’s public cloud infrastructure that provides services like computing, storage, networking, big data, machine learning and more. Some key things to know:
-
GCP launched in 2008 and has rapidly grown into one of the top 3 public cloud providers along with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
-
It offers infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and serverless computing capabilities.
-
Major products include Compute Engine (IaaS), App Engine (PaaS), Kubernetes Engine, Big Query, Cloud Storage, Cloud SQL and more.
-
Customers span organizations of all sizes across virtually every industry, including retail, media, financial services, healthcare and government.
-
According to IDC, GCP has a worldwide market share of around 7% as of 2021.
Rising Demand for Cloud in the UK
Google is investing heavily in expanding its global cloud infrastructure to keep pace with growing customer demand. Some key drivers of increased cloud adoption in the UK include:
-
Digital transformation: More enterprises are shifting business processes and workloads to the cloud for greater efficiency, productivity and innovation.
-
Hybrid work: The pandemic accelerated remote and hybrid work models, driving up demand for cloud services like video conferencing, collaboration tools and virtual desktops.
-
Data analytics: Organizations want flexible, scalable analytics capabilities offered by cloud data warehouses and analytics tools.
-
AI/ML: Cloud’s on-demand compute power facilitates development and deployment of AI and machine learning apps.
-
5G: The rollout of 5G networks and edge computing is enabling high-bandwidth, low-latency cloud use cases.
Details on the New UK Data Centres
To support surging cloud demand in the UK specifically, Google is opening the following new data centres:
London Data Centre
-
Located in London within the Docklands area.
-
Will open in late 2025 or early 2026.
-
Part of the $1 billion investment Google announced in 2020 to expand its UK cloud infrastructure.
Wales Data Centre
-
Located in Wales near Cardiff.
-
Slated to open in 2026.
-
Will be Google’s first data centre in Wales.
-
The facility will support uses like analytics, machine learning and data warehousing.
Benefits of the New Data Centres
The additional UK data centre capacity will enable Google Cloud to provide lower latency and higher performance for UK-based customers. Other benefits include:
- Supports growing customer demand in the UK.
- Enables development of new products and services targeted at the UK market.
- Strengthens Google Cloud’s competitive position in the UK public cloud market.
- Creates economic opportunities and jobs in the London and Wales areas.
- Gives UK organizations localized options for data residency and compliance.
- Expands infrastructure to support 5G, artificial intelligence, smart analytics and more in the UK.
The new data centres reinforce Google Cloud’s commitment to investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure worldwide to meet the needs of its customers today and into the future. The additional capacity will help strengthen its foothold in the strategic UK market.
