Google Cloud celebrates the inauguration of its second German cloud region, Berlin-Brandenburg 

PAC attended a Google Cloud customer and analyst event held to inaugurate Google’s second German cloud region, Berlin-Brandenburg.  

A Google Cloud Region typically consists of three data centers in one geographic region. The first German Google Cloud Region is located in the Frankfurt/Main area. Both Regions are exclusively dedicated to Google Cloud clients, i.e., they are not used by Google to host other products from its broader portfolio. Outside North America, more than one local Google Cloud Region is available only in Japan, India, and now Germany, which underscores the importance of these countries for the hyperscaler.  

Located close to the German capital, this Cloud Region offers the full spectrum of Google Cloud services and can be used for backup purposes within Germany, thus offering greater business resilience and continuity while meeting the (data) sovereignty and data residency requirements of highly sensitive or regulated industries like the public sector.  

Analytics and AI for the enterprise

Even though the announcement that Google BARD can now communicate in German was made some days after the event, AI and data analytics were clearly at the heart of the event. Google stresses that many of its services, such as Search, Maps, and YouTube, have been infused with AI for a long time, which means Google not only provides the AI technology but also the experience of using it. Solutions like Google Translate also help to further optimize its own AI solutions.  

While Google BARD and other Google services primarily address consumers, Google Cloud has made it clear that it aims to support enterprises in rethinking their business models based on analytics and AI solutions that meet enterprise requirements. Together with clients like Bayer, Commerzbank, and GEMA, Google Cloud has presented some innovative, industry-specific cloud use cases.  

Lufthansa Group improves decision-making with AI 

One prominent cloud, analytics, and AI client is Lufthansa Group. In view of a volatile macro-economic environment and complex ecosystem, Lufthansa Group has been following a new approach to operations data management. It has partnered with Google Cloud to develop a platform to better plan and manage its daily flight operations, the so-called Operations Decision Support Suite (OPSD). OPSD takes advantage of Google Cloud services to integrate relevant internal and external operations data, generate models and identify all valid decision scenarios. Those scenarios are automatically evaluated based on multiple objectives to present the most efficient decision to the Airline’s Operation Control teams in a timely manner.  AI-powered scenario planning and a better view of weather patterns, route options, fuel efficiency, as well as aircraft utilization and maintenance play an important role in this context – no longer only from an airline, but in the future also from an ecosystem perspective, including data from service & handling providers, air traffic control, airports and others. 

A sovereign cloud for Germany with T-Systems 

Germany has always been very cautious about protecting personal data, which has been a constant challenge for non-European cloud providers. Regulated industries like the public sector are particularly sensitive. Being located close to the major federal authorities now and having extended local data center resources might help in some cases. In others, specific sovereignty solutions might be necessary to allow organizations to use cloud services – even though the EU Commission recently determined that data protection in the US was sufficient.  

For this purpose, Google Cloud partners with local providers in various countries. In Germany, Google Cloud announced a partnership with T-Systems in 2021 that comprises joint investment in technology solutions and co-innovation to build and deliver sovereign cloud services for German enterprises, the public sector, and healthcare organizations. In the end, there will be three levels of “T-Systems Sovereign Cloud powered by Google Cloud“ with different deployment and operating models. Two are already available, Sovereign Controls and Distributed Cloud Hosted (DCH); the third, Trusted Partner Cloud, which is to have feature parity to the public cloud, will come. Berlin-based start-up GovMarket, a joint venture of PwC and Public, has been among the first customers of T-Systems’ Sovereign Cloud, powered by Google Cloud.  

Technological and commercial choice 

In PAC’s vendor rankings for Public IaaS/PaaS in Germany, Google Cloud ranked 3^rd in 2022, still well behind its global rivals in terms of local revenue. However, the provider has been growing fast, winning more market share recently. And the Berlin event has once again demonstrated Google Cloud’s ambitions and commitment to the German market. This is good news for cloud users as it means a greater technological and commercial choice.