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Google announced Cross-Cloud Network, a platform that simplifies connectivity and security across multi-cloud and hybrid environments, at the Google Cloud Next ’23 event.
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Cross-Cloud Network combines Google’s own networking products with partner offerings and enables managed interconnects between Google Cloud and other public clouds like AWS and Azure.
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Walmart is an early adopter of the Cross-Cloud Network, using it to reduce latency, cost, and complexity for its multi-cloud setup that spans three cloud service providers.
Google Cloud has released a solution to overcome connectivity and security challenges in multicloud: Cross-Cloud Network, a platform that simplifies and enhances multi-cloud and hybrid networking.
Cross-Cloud Network, announced at Google Cloud Next ’23, combines Google’s own networking products with partner offerings to address common use cases such as building distributed applications, delivering internet-facing apps, and securing hybrid workforces.
The platform enables managed interconnects between Google Cloud and major public clouds, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. It also integrates with advanced security solutions from partners like Palo Alto Networks.
The Cross-Cloud Network is an open platform that allows customers to use their preferred vendors and technologies without having to replace their existing infrastructure or security vendor. It also leverages Google’s ‘planet scale’ network that powers all Google services today, with 38 regions, 187 network edges, and billions of dollars in subsea cable investments.
Muninder Sambi, VP and GM of Cloud Networking at Google, stated that with Cross-Cloud Network, they would be able to provide on-demand any-to-any connectivity where users could connect AWS, Azure, and others directly into Google Cloud without having to invest in physical infrastructure and manage the life cycle of the infrastructure.
He also said that the Cross-Cloud Network was an open platform that helped users provide consistent security as well as lower their TCO, i.e., the total cost of ownership. He added that it was an open platform because users could bring in any vendor or any ecosystem partner that they were working with, and engage that partner.
One of the early adopters of the Cross-Cloud Network is retail giant Walmart, which is using three cloud service providers spread across multiple regions. The Cross-Cloud Network helps Walmart reduce latency, improve reliability, lower costs, and enable data and AI workloads across multi-cloud environments.
Gerald Bothello, Senior Director of Software Engineering for Cloud at Walmart, explained that Walmart was using three cloud service providers spread across multiple regions. He said that the goal for Walmart’s multi-cloud setup was to enable its internal users to place workloads in the right locations to have the lowest possible latency for application performance.
According to Google, using a Cross-Cloud Network can reduce network latency by 35% and total cost of ownership by 40% compared to networking applications without routing the traffic over Google’s network.
The Cross-Cloud Network is part of Google’s broader vision to provide customers with the best cloud experience possible, regardless of where their workloads are running. With the Cross-Cloud Network, Google is making multi-cloud networking easier and more secure for everyone.
Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Network aims to simplify multi-cloud networking, but it may face challenges such as higher costs and complexity, security risks, performance and reliability issues, vendor lock-in problems, and skills gaps. These challenges arise from the need to manage and integrate different cloud environments, each with its own tools, APIs, and security protocols.