Google Next 2022: 9 announcements that will benefit your organisation

Google’s annual conference for business users and developers, Google Cloud Next, wrapped up this month. The three-day event was packed with announcements about new features and updates to existing products and services. Out of the no less than 123(!) announcements made at the event, GC innovate selected our nine favourites that will help to take your organisation to the next level. Keep reading for a comprehensive overview!

1. Google Workspace 

The Google Workspace ecosystem, which consists of fourteen apps, announced an impressive list of new integrations. For example, you can now start a Meet call directly from third-party apps, and connect Google Sheets to Tableau to synchronise data. These integrations improve the workflow significantly, and make hybrid and remote collaborative working environments even easier. 

2. Dual Run 

Dual Run helps to modernise architectures that use mainframes and bring them to the cloud. It simplifies migrations to a cloud architecture by running mainframe workloads simultaneously. Besides adding a layer of redundancy, it will help enterprises like financial institutions adapt their legacy infrastructure to modern-day performance and security requirements.

3. C3 Virtual Machines 

Together with the new Hyperdisk block storage, Google advertised the new C3 machines as “the next wave of Google cloud infrastructure innovation”. They are purpose-built machines for high-performance computing and data-intensive workloads. The units will lead to significant performance gains over the previous generation, which will lower the computing to cost ratio for Google Cloud customers.

4. Software Delivery Shield 

Software Delivery Shield is an end-to-end security solution for the software supply chain. This includes development, but also other aspects of the entire Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) like continuous improvement and deployment. Google also introduced Cloud Workstations: fully managed Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) in the cloud. As a free addition to its existing services, the Software Delivery Shield initiative further confirms Google’s commitment to security.

5. Confidential Space 

Confidential Space is a part of Google Cloud’s Confidential Computing portfolio. It allows multiple parties to securely share project data by guaranteeing that any confidential data stays protected with full access control. For example, financial institutions working together to detect fraud and avoid money laundering can make sure they can only access anonymised data without download permissions

6. Chronicle

With the acquisition of Siemplify, Google Cloud has firmly expanded their security portfolio. To streamline their security offering, Google announced the Chronicle Security Operations Suite,  a modern, cloud-born software suite. It lets security teams detect, investigate, and respond to cyber threats by leveraging the power of Google Cloud’s infrastructure. Together with Confidential Space and Software Delivery Shield, these announcements put security in the spotlight. 

7. Vertex AI Vision 

Vertex AI Vision is an extension of the Vertex AI platform, which helps to build applications that rely on computer vision. It reduces the time to build from days to minutes, at just 10% of the cost of Google’s current offerings. This will make it easier to develop applications like automatic blurring of faces in photos, or automatic sorting of packages for postal services.

8. BigQuery 

Google’s enterprise data warehouse product was featured in several announcements that illustrated their vision on a unified, open, and intelligent data cloud. Expanding its already extensive integration capabilities, BigQuery now offers connections to Apache Spark and Datastream. Earlier this year Google Cloud also announced BigLake, a new storage engine that extends its capabilities to open file formats. With this many added canals, filling your data lake has never been easier. 

9. Translation Hub

Translation Hub is a fully managed, self-serve document translation service. It helps organisations that deal with a large amount of documents to translate them into 135 languages while preserving the documents’ formats and layout. This helps to make their content more inclusive and available for more customers while drastically lowering translation costs.

Curious about these innovations or other Google Cloud offerings? At GC innovate, we are committed to explaining the added value of Google’s innovations for organisations. Feel free to contact us to learn more! 

Want to discuss the possibilities of Google Cloud with local decision makers and get inspired by engaging keynotes? Google is organising an exclusive Leaders Connect Benelux event on the 16th of November at Bluepoint Antwerp. Places are extremely limited, so register here to ensure your spot.