Cloud Tidbits: New Google Cloud COO, Data Center Frenzy, More
Get the rundown on what’s happening within the cloud computing sector this first full week of the new year. Key names include Google Cloud, Informatica, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
It’s the first full week of the new year, and cloud computing firms already are making some announcements of note to channel partners. We kick off this short cloud news roundup with a look at the new Google Cloud COO. After that, there’s some news from Informatica, followed by insight into how much and where Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are spending on data centers this year.
Google Cloud Gets New COO
A longtime technology-sector founder and investor now is the new Google Cloud COO.
Francis deSouza announced in a Jan. 8 LinkedIn post that he has taken on the role of chief operating officer at the world’s third-largest cloud computing provider.
Google Cloud's Francis deSouza
“It’s an especially exciting time at Google Cloud as organizations are increasingly looking to leverage the transformative power of gen AI to deliver remarkable outcomes,” deSouza wrote.
Google Cloud tells Channel Futures deSouza's role is net-new. However, Google Cloud has had at least one COO in the past. Diane Bryant left Intel in 2017 to become Google Cloud COO; she only stayed for seven months.
deSouza has spent most of his career founding and running various software companies. He also spent nearly eight years at Symantec; his last role there was as president of products and services. deSouza most recently founded SynthLabs, an AI post-training firm, before accepting the Google Cloud COO position.
Google Cloud, Informatica Expand Partnership
In another piece of Google Cloud news, Informatica, which bills itself as a cloud data management provider, has added more of its tools to the Google Cloud Marketplace.
Buyers now may purchase Informatica’s Cloud Data Governance and Catalog from that platform.
“AI-driven cataloging and governance capabilities provide a rich metadata foundation that is critical for modern analytics and AI initiatives, including Informatica’s … Gen AI Blueprint for the Vertex AI platform and Gemini models,” said Rik Tamm-Daniels, global vice president of strategic ecosystems and technology at Informatica.
Ritika Suri, director of data and AI partnerships at Google Cloud, agreed.
“Governance is an important component of any AI strategy, and Informatica now makes it easy for Google Cloud customers to adopt its GDGC governance.”
Data Center Investment Frenzy in Full Swing
Already this month, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services have both announced big data center investments, citing demand for generative AI services.
Throughout its fiscal year 2025, Microsoft, which runs the Azure cloud computing platform, plans to spend $80 billion. That money will go toward building “AI-enabled datacenters to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications around the world,” wrote Microsoft President Brad Smith in a Jan. 3 blog.
More than half of that money will be spent in the United States, Smith said, “reflecting our commitment to this country and our confidence in the American economy.”
Microsoft spent $53 billion on capital expenditures in 2023.
Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services, the world’s largest cloud computing provider, says it will spend $11 billion in the metro Atlanta area.
“Generative AI is driving increased demand for advanced cloud infrastructure and compute power,” the company wrote on Jan. 7.
That news followed the Dec. 24 announcement that the company is planning $10 billion in investments in Ohio, in addition to the $7.8 billion announced in 2023.
“By 2030, AWS's planned investment toward data center expansion in Ohio is forecasted to surpass $23 billion,” wrote Roger Wehner, vice president of economic development at AWS, in the recent blog.
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