Google Cloud introduces ‘no-cost’ data transfers for UK, EU businesses

Google Cloud has announced the launch of a new multi-cloud data transfer service for enterprises based in the UK and European Union (EU).

In a blog post Jeanette Manfra, senior director for global risk and compliance at Google Cloud, said the new Data Transfer Essentials scheme comes in direct response to cloud interoperability principles outlined in the EU Data Act.

“Data Transfer Essentials is a new, simple solution for data transfers between Google Cloud and other cloud service providers,” Manfra said.

Notably, under the terms of the EU Data Act, cloud providers are allowed to “pass through costs to customers” for data transfers. Manfra noted that the Google service will come “at no cost to customers”.

Key competitors including Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) also provide data transfer options for customers. In Microsoft's case these come at a cost to the enterprise, while AWS allows EU customers to transfer data at a reduced rate.

“The original promise of the cloud is one that is open, elastic, and free from artificial lock-ins,” Manfra wrote.

“Google Cloud continues to embrace this openness and the ability for customers to choose the cloud service provider that works best for their workload needs.”

What to expect with Google Cloud's data transfer scheme

According to Google, the new service is specifically designed for “in-parallel” processing of workloads distributed across multiple cloud providers, giving enterprises greater flexibility.

“Data Transfer Essentials enables you to build flexible, multi-cloud strategies and use the best-of-breed solutions across different cloud providers,” Manfra said.

“This can foster greater digital operational resilience – without incurring outbound data transfer costs from Google Cloud.”

Data transfer costs, also known as “egress fees”, have become a point of contention in the cloud computing industry in recent years.

With enterprises flocking to hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, the costs associated with transferring workloads to alternative providers have been a major hurdle.

Indeed, egress fees were a key talking point in a recent probe into the state of the UK’s cloud computing industry. The investigation, conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) following an initial probe by Ofcom, found egress fees created significant barriers to multi-cloud adoption.

“Customers face both commercial and technical barriers when seeking to multi-cloud or switch their cloud provider and many currently think that the costs outweigh the benefits,” the CMA reported in early August.

“Barriers to multi-cloud negatively affect many customers’ ability to use and integrate multiple public clouds, and this limits customers’ ability and incentive to exercise choice over their cloud provider."

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