5 Benefits to use Google Cloud Platform for App Development

Today IT teams increasingly switch to Cloud infrastructure, abandoning traditional in-house data centers. According to CIO, more than 96% of tech managers chose Cloud solutions for their projects in 2018 — and this number keeps growing.

What is Google Cloud?

Google Cloud Platform is among the most popular Cloud platforms right now, with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure as main competitors. The company firstly introduced Google App Engine — a set of servers, virtual machines, data analysis services, load balancers, and more. These instruments provide businesses the ability to quickly deploy, run, and monitor their products with no corporate data servers.

Google Cloud Platform is adopted by Spotify, CocaCola, Sony Music, Snapchat, Evernote, and many other companies. Even Apple chose Google Cloud over AWS recently, moving some of its services from AWS. eBay, GitHub, and Twitter followed the trend to move to Google Cloud from other services.

What are the reasons to use Google Cloud Platform

If so many big companies and startups are switching to Google Cloud, there should be a compelling reason. Our take on the situation is simple: Google is putting in a lot of effort to make the platform stand out. At first, it was a relatively simple Cloud infrastructure, but the company added 90+ development tools, signed up exclusive agreements to get faster bandwidth cables, and did some great experiments with pricing plans.

These aren’t the only reasons to consider app development in Google Cloud Platform — take a look at some more.

Cost-efficiency

Buying your own data center is a huge investment on its own. Along with that, you need server space, a qualified team of hardware, software, and security experts, constant monitoring and maintenance, and enough computing power. It’s obvious that Google, being a tech giant, has more resources to assure a versatile infrastructure with locations all over the world and thousands of qualified employees. You can start building an app on Google Cloud Platform without investments in servers.

Exemplary safety

Google Cloud Platform uses practices that were tested for more than 15 years and proven on the company’s most popular products — Search, Gmail, and others. All data is protected with 256-bit encryption. The servers are audited by ISO 27017, FedRAMP, SOC 2, HIPAA, and other certifications.

Fast deployment

Google is the creator of Kubernetes, a go-to platform for multi-component development. Google Cloud was designed with Kubernetes development in mind — later, the company decided to embrace other methods as well. Still, even up to date it is the best destination for working with multiple components because there are many Kubernetes-dedicated tools that you won’t see elsewhere.

Simplicity

Google Cloud Platform offers free educational resources that explain the concept of the Cloud, basic technical terms, and get video tips on how to build an app with Google Cloud Platform. The platform has guides for all levels of difficulty — from basic tasks like creating a virtual machine to a lot more advanced problems. Any Google Cloud Platform app developer can start from scratch and keep building skills.

Constant expansion

Google Cloud platform wasn’t among the best initially, but it’s getting there fast. The team constantly adds new countries to its server infrastructure — now, Google has powerful datacenters in Sydney, Seoul, Jakarta, Las Vegas, Warsaw, and other cities. When there are so many locations, the speed of the network grows much higher, and your app will be able to answer requests faster. Also, it adds to security — your information will be stored all over the world, and cybercriminals won’t be able to pinpoint a single location as their target.

Who are the users of Google Cloud Platform?

Originally, Google Cloud Platform was meant to be used by startups. The corporation offered free credits and discounts to small businesses and startups. However, as the solution was growing, it became apparent that most startups don’t use the majority of functionality in the infrastructure. Big companies, on the other hand, started considering migration — and one by one, large corporations from Disney to Colgate-Palmolive started switching to Google Cloud from corporate servers or other platforms.

Possibilities of Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Platform is one of the most versatile Cloud infrastructures out there. It offers over 90 Google app building platforms solutions for software development, testing, and deployment. Here, we listed the most relevant ones — you can see the rest on the Wikipedia page.

• Artificial intelligence & machine learning: you can create an app on Google Cloud Platform with machine learning, training engines, job discovery for recruitment, dialog flow enterprise for chatbot management, natural language processing services for creating natural content. There is also vision and video intelligence that analyzes visual content.
• API management: the platform offers tools for API integration, monetization, planning, publishing, and analytics. With the Maps Platform, you can integrate geolocation APIs and enable their security with Apigee Sense.
• Computing: you can deploy an app with Google Cloud Platform in Python. Java, Go, PHP, C#, Ruby, Node.js, .Net. Compute Engine controls virtual machines. Kubernetes Engine is responsible for container development. With Cloud Functions, you can deploy event-written software.
• Data analytics: the collection and analysis of information is basically Google’s specialty. The platform offers versatile big data tools for warehouse analytics, batch data management, workflow monitoring, analytics, and reporting. With Cloud Datastore, you can visually represent all collected information while Data Studio will compile smart reports.
• Databases: Google Storage provides space for all unstructured insights. Cloud SQL is a database based on Postgresql and MySQL. You can set up databases for web, desktop, and mobile apps, check software’s performance, and operate with in-memory data. Developer tools: teams can deploy Google’s resources in templates, web interfaces, and in the command-line interface. There’s also a mobile client that provides access to all Google App development tools and guidelines. You can learn how to build a Google Cloud Platform for node js app, create virtual machines, and learn how to create Cloud software from scratch.

Benefits of Google Cloud Solutions for App Development

Google Cloud Platform is known for being one of the most versatile and affordable Cloud platforms out there. Compared to AWS and Azure, it’s at least 20-30% cheaper — the exact numbers depend on how long you run the project. It’s also one of the best platforms for AI and big data development because Google’s custom tools are easy to learn and integrate. More of Azure vs Google Cloud can be checked here.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s take a deeper look at other reasons to use Google Cloud platform to build an app.

• Pricing is better than in AWS and Azure: Google bills for used minutes — you can customize your tariff with ten-minute accuracy. When the workload is running long-term, clients get discounts. If you use Google’s VMs for 30+ days, you get a cheaper plan. Google’s price policy stands apart from AWS and Azure — Amazon only offers discounts to users with reserved instances, while Azure only gives 5% discounts for a yearly prepay.
• Professional certification: all Google users can schedule a professional exam that will approve their expertise as Associate Cloud engineers, professional Cloud developers, architects, data engineers, and others. Exams and learning materials are available in English, Spanish, Japanese, and Indonesian.
• A global network of servers: Google Cloud has the biggest server network in the world. Also, they implemented FASTER, INDIGO, and other Internet cables, which provide additional bandwidths allowing to process additional 10 Terabits per second — which makes the platform faster than competitors.
• Easy migration: Unlike Azure and AWS, Google Cloud hosting allows migrating virtual machines live. Developers can create and update devices in real-time and connect them to host machines. Even when VMs are in the migration process, you can keep using the Google Cloud Platform to make an app.
• Powerful performance: Google Cloud Platform allows quickly decreasing load times by adding more machines and services. Also, because Google uses this improved-bandwidth cable, the speed of the connection between servers is incredibly high. AWS and Azure offer relatively the same speed, but Google’s services are a lot cheaper.

Google Cloud Platform App Developers in TechMagic

We use Google Cloud for web app development to help our clients cut costs on their tech projects, quickly develop new software with tools available in the infrastructure, and use innovations. Google Cloud encourages developers to experiment with AI and machine learning big data — all tools are accessible right on the platform and are very straightforward.

Google’s low costs make it a perfect solution for startups and big corporations alike. Small businesses can use cheaper tiers — Google has a basic tier that is most often used by SMBs. Big companies are eligible for a big discount — the more virtual machines you run, the cheaper a VM will be. Right now, Google Cloud platform is one of the most powerful and affordable options on the market.If you are considering migrating your project from corporate servers or other platforms, take a look at Google Platform. The infrastructure is powerful, rich, secure, and cost-efficient. Our developers have been working with Google Cloud for a long while, and it’s one of our favorite platforms to date. Contact our Cloud team — we are ready to move.