GCP

GCP, or Google Cloud Platform, is a suite of cloud computing services offered by Google. It provides infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and serverless computing environments that run on Google’s globally distributed data centers. GCP is used to build, deploy, and scale applications and data workflows, with a focus on analytics, machine learning, and large-scale data processing.

Core services cover computing, storage, and databases. Compute options include Compute Engine for virtual machines, App Engine for managed applications, Kubernetes Engine for container orchestration, and serverless options such as Cloud Functions and Cloud Run. Storage and databases span Cloud Storage for objects, Persistent Disk for block storage, and managed databases such as Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner, Firestore, and Cloud Bigtable. Networking features include Virtual Private Cloud, Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud CDN, and Dedicated Interconnect.

GCP emphasizes data analytics and AI capabilities. Notable offerings include BigQuery for scalable analytics, Dataflow and Dataproc for data processing, Pub/Sub for messaging, and Vertex AI for building and deploying machine learning models. Developer tools and operations services, such as Cloud SDK, Cloud Shell, Cloud Composer, Monitoring, and Logging, support lifecycle management and automation.

Security, governance, and compliance are central to GCP. Google provides encryption at rest and in transit, Identity and Access Management, Cloud IAM policies, and compliance with standards such as ISO, SOC, HIPAA, and GDPR. Regions and zones offer geographic distribution, data residency options, and redundancy to meet performance and reliability requirements. GCP competes with other major cloud platforms and is widely used by organizations seeking scalable cloud infrastructure, data analytics, and AI capabilities.