BT launches Direct Connectivity to Google Cloud

BT has announced the launch of a new service to provide organisations with simple, direct and fast access to Google Cloud Platform.

BT Cloud Connect for Google Cloud gives customers direct connectivity with interface speeds varying from 50 Mb/s to 2Gb/s. A resilient pair of high-performance connections means access to Google Cloud Platform services comes with more security, higher availability and with better consistency compared to connecting over the open internet.

The service is currently available at Google Cloud’s Ashburn and Chicago points of presence in the US, as well as in Frankfurt, Germany and London, helping organisations based in those regions optimise performance and meet compliance requirements.

The new service complements Google Cloud’s Partner Interconnect, a service which offers enterprises access to Google Cloud Platform from anywhere in the world.

John Veizades, product manager, Google Cloud, said: “Partner Interconnect gives Google Cloud customers even more connectivity choices for hybrid environments. Together with BT, we are making it easier for customers to extend their on-prem infrastructure to the Google Cloud Platform.”

Neil Sutton, vice president strategy and strategic alliances at BT, said: “BT can now offer customers direct, secure and reliable access to Google Cloud, a global platform engineered to handle very large, data-intensive workloads. It’s the latest development in our Cloud of Clouds approach, which has seen us invest in direct links to all of the world’s leading hyper-scale cloud platforms. It offers customers a comprehensive choice of cloud services providers and value-added services such as Check Point firewall, Connect Intelligence Riverbed and Connect Intelligence InfoVista, which provide security and end-to-end applications visibility, control and acceleration from branch sites to where data is hosted in the cloud.”

The service builds on BT’s global network reach, spanning 198 countries and territories. It is designed, implemented and supported as part of the customer’s existing network infrastructure. This means less redesign, less change and more consistency with existing network practice when connecting to new cloud services.

It is the latest development in BT’s Cloud of Clouds approach, which has been helping customers since 2015 on their digital transformation journeys by connecting them easily and securely to a cutting-edge ecosystem of cloud services, applications and data.