Telefónica-built Google Cloud opens in Madrid 

Google helped train millions under its Grow with Google programme but now it's schooling Vodafone's machines in self-help and data sharing.

Hyperscaler’s presence allays Spanish sovereignty fears

Spain’s doubts that convenience compromises compliance have been allayed by the opening of a local Google Cloud centre for the Madrid region. 
Spain’s flagship operator Telefónica helped build this particular new node in a network of 33 cloud regions and 100 zones across the globe. It has promised the region’s businesses and sovereign-sensitive government organisations much quicker response times, more access to cloud services and no compromise on data protection standards. Google Cloud promised Madrilenos will benefit from high security on ‘the industry’s cleanest cloud’. 

Security first 

Companies want to get on the cloud quicker and they want their journey simplified. Locally based data hosting and data processing facilities remove these barriers to cloud adoption in the Madrid area, according to Luis Jimenez, Subdirector del Centro Criptológico Nacional. Spanish businesses and government entities can now comply with Spanish standards for availability, data residency and sustainability. 

Technology

The technology speeding their metamorphosis comprises a core set of services including Compute Engine, App Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Bigtable, Cloud Storage, Spanner and BigQuery. The Madrid region is launching with three cloud zones and Telefónica is supporting one of them, giving them access to analytics based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Application modernisation tools will be available to give existing systems the usability and dexterity of cloud computing apps. 

Who needs it?

Highly regulated sectors like government, healthcare and financial services need additional controls to store data and run workloads locally and Google Cloud makes it a lot easier for telco business service providers, such as Telefónica Business ServicesBTOrange Business Services and Deutsche Telekom’s business service division. The Google Cloud region is bringing to Spain will be especially important for convincing public sector organizations that everything is above board and inline with the National Security Scheme, according to Centro Criptológico Nacional’s Jimenez. A local cloud with the highest security guarantees is ideal. “The collaboration with hyperscalers is key. It is also essential to continue advancing with best practices adoption, training, security configurations and supervision,” said Jimenez.

Hyperscale is the convincer

Data sovereignty is a sensitive issue in Spain but it wrestles for prominence with the speed of response time, according to Carlos Valero, Chief Information Officer, Grupo DIA. “We have decided to rely on the new Google Cloud region in Madrid for some of our most critical workloads like orders, inventory, product stock. This will guarantee our customers a low-latency service while managing their data within the national borders.” Offering customers quick responses, while keeping workloads and data management safe, is vital for Spanish banking customers of BBVA too, confirmed Carmen Lopez Herranz, CTO at BBVA.  The new Google Cloud region in Madrid is a great step forward and “offering them a premium user experience without neglecting data security and residency,” said Lopez Harran.

Economic multiplier

Google Cloud’s Grace Hopper subsea cable landed in September 2021 in Bilbao, connecting Spain and the UK with the United States for increased performance and greater support using the same network that powers Google infrastructure and products. Google has helped to train more than 1 million people under its Grow with Google program in Spain. It plans to open a center of excellence for cybersecurity in Malaga and support the creation of the AI Lab Granada, in partnership with Indra Minsait in ‘the coming year’. “In 2020, we announced our plans to launch a new cloud region to help accelerate the economic recovery and growth of Spain,” said Isaac Hernandez, the Country Leader for Google Cloud in Spain, “today, it’s officially open.”