Google announces cloud expansion plans

Google will also lay three new subsea cables

Google has confirmed plans to expand its cloud infrastructure across five new regions and construct three submarine cables.

According to Reuters, the company is looking to bring its cloud infrastructure to new areas of the world in a bid to cater for more cloud customers and to fend off the competition.

Having already ploughed $30 billion into its cloud technology in the last three years, Google will expand in the Netherlands and Montreal at the start of 2018.

It'll then bring its cloud technology to Los Angeles, Finland and Hong Kong. However, the company hasn't revealed a timeline for these locations.

Ben Treynor, vice president of Google's cloud tech, announced the news in a blog post on Tuesday. "At Google, we've spent $30 billion improving our infrastructure over three years, and we're not done yet," he said.

"From data centers to subsea cables, Google is committed to connecting the world and serving our Cloud customers, and today we're excited to announce that we're adding three new submarine cables, and five new regions."

Google has also unveiled plans to build three subsea cables next year. Named after prestigious scientist Marie Curie, the first cable is called Curie, and it'll connect Chile to Los Angeles.

The second one, Havfrue, will connect the United States to Ireland and Denmark. Meanwhile, Hong Kong-Guam cable will connect important communication hubs in asia.

"Then, in 2019 we'll commission three subsea cables: Curie, a private cable connecting Chile to Los Angeles; Havfrue, a consortium cable connecting the U.S. to Denmark and Ireland; and the Hong Kong-Guam Cable system (HK-G), a consortium cable interconnecting major subsea communication hubs in Asia," explained Trennor.

Google will work with Tokyo-based NEC Corp and TE SubCom on the cables. Overall, it has plans to build eleven of them over the next few years. Subsea cables play an important role in worldwide communications and carry much of the world's data traffic.

Treynor added: "Together, these investments further improve our network—the world's largest—which by some accounts delivers 25 per cent of worldwide internet traffic. Companies like PayPal leverage our network and infrastructure to run their businesses effectively."

Sri Shivananda, senior vice president and chief technology officer of PayPal, said: "We process billions of transactions across the globe, and need to do so securely, instantaneously and economically.

"As a result, security, networking and infrastructure were key considerations for us when choosing a cloud provider. With Google Cloud, we have access to the world's largest network, which helps us reach our infrastructure goals and best serve our millions of users."