• Following Google’s launch of its cloud region in Johannesburg last week, Teraco has now said it will offer direct connectivity to the platform.
• Businesses leveraging the Google Cloud platform can now enjoy faster speeds as well as benefit from Teraco’s secure endpoints.
• Firms such as FNB, Pepkor and MTN expressed great interest in Google’s launch last week.

Last week, Google announced the launch of its cloud region in Johannesburg adding to its growing list of territories where it provides cloud-based services. On Tuesday, not even a week after this announcement, Teraco announced that it will offer its customers direct connectivity through Google Cloud Interconnect at its Isando campus.

“Our direct connections to the Google Cloud infrastructure ensure our clients have direct, secure access to the critical IT resources they need for business success. The launch of Google Cloud in Africa is another important milestone in our digital transformation journey,” head of platforms at the company, Michele McCann said in a press statement.

One of the marquee features of the Google Cloud Interconnect is that it will be faster than connecting to services via the public internet. This is because there are fewer hops which has the bonus benefit of having fewer potential points of failure.,

The platform can be scaled to meet a customers’ needs and perhaps most importantly, information flows over trusted endpoints in a secure location. With the ever-present threat of cybercrime looming over business owners, this is fantastic news as together with secure policies on the business’ end, the data flowing through these channels should be more difficult to compromise.

Given the interest shown by the likes of FNB, MTN and Pepkor following Google’s announcement last week, Teraco seems perfectly poised to cater to the needs of local businesses, especially given that existing clients can now leverage the Google Cloud Interconnect through a local firm.

With Johannesburg ranked as the biggest data centre market in the Southern Hemisphere, we expect to see more investment and developments in the region throughout the rest of this year.