The second Google Cloud Region in Italy opens in Turin: what it is and why it is important

With the inauguration of the 3 data centers located around Turin, Italy becomes the first country in EMEA to host two Google Cloud Regions. This is an important step in that journey started by the Californian company in 2020, with the announcement of an investment of 900 million dollars over 5 years for digital technology in Italy: “Our country is in a very similar situation to that of the fifties, the years of the Italian miracle – he explained to us Fabio Fregi, country manager Italy of Google Cloud – At the time, investments in physical infrastructure favored the boom, today the enabling infrastructure is digital. This is why Google has decided to focus on Italy: right now, perhaps also because we were a little slower in the first two decades of the 2000s, we are the country that promises the best possibilities for digital acceleration”.

The importance of the Italian Cloud Regions

The Cloud Region is an area equipped with the enabling network infrastructure for the digital transformation and growth of a territory. It’s composed by 3 physically separate cloud zones, at a safe distance, but such as to guarantee reliability and reduced latency. The presence of multiple Regions in the same country provides a secondary local site to ensure more efficient disaster recovery or other geographical availability that allows you to meet the needs of continuity of the business.

Turin comes to join Milan, active since June 2022, and joins the other 35 Regions scattered around the world. Among the various benefits, the presence of two areas located at a strategic distance could guarantee a reduction in latency of up to 80%: “There is a tendency to get closer to the customer to ensure a reduction in response time of applications – commented Fregi – Especially in some sectors it is a fundamental element, for example I am thinking of banking transactions”.

Furthermore, a recent independent study carried out by the University of Turin shows that the new Regions will be able to generate up to 3.3 billion euros of economic impact by 2025 in Piedmont and Lombardy and another study by the Milan Polytechnic calculates that, thanks to the two Regions, projects along the supply chain will be able to generate a new market for partners, estimated at around 1.9 million euros , in the three-year period 2023-2025.

Not only that: the two Regions in our country represent an important response to the issue of data sovereigntyparticularly felt at European level: “In this way, the customer will be able to choose where to store his data – said Paolo Spreafico, director of customer engineering Italy of Google Cloud – To ensure greater control, we offer companies the possibility of managing mechanisms of cryptographic delegation of the data: in this way you have absolute control of the data, because if one wishes to decrypt it, will always have to notify the access to the customer. We go beyond data sovereignty, we also give the customer sovereignty in management”.

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The two Regions are not the only aspect of Google’s investment. It was in February inaugurated the submarine cable that connects Genoa with the Mediterranean countries (we told it here)to “guarantee a fast, reliable and secure connection to the global network – Fregi pointed out – And then, in addition to networks and data centres, another important aspect is represented by training, which we have provided at various levels in recent years” .

With the completion of the two Regions, both traditional companies and startups o Digital native businesses will benefit from Google’s cloud services to the fullest. As Fregi highlighted, there are 5 main transformation elements that will be enabled. Companies will be helped to become smarter, making informed decisions in real time, based on data. Furthermore, they will be able to store data where it makes the most sense for them (closest and in a manner compliant with the GDPR), remaining connected to the nodes of the global Google network. It will be easier to connect several people and allow them to collaborate remotely, according to the work from anywhere principle and without forgetting reliability: the cloud also allows SMEs to reach large company security standards. “Our services are born safe by design – Spreafico wanted to underline – an increasingly important factor, considering the increase in the frequency and scope and attacks to which our country is subject”.

Last but not least, the possibility for companies to achieve efficiency and effectiveness goalsin compliance with sustainability criteria: the goal is to help customers reduce the CO2 emissions of their digital infrastructure: “The central theme for Google – is the conclusion of Fregi – Since 2007 we have been carbon neutral, since 2017 we cover with renewable energy total energy consumption and by 2030 we aim to be carbon free 24/7”.