Data centre services company Teraco will offer connectivity directly through Google Cloud Interconnect to the Google Cloud Johannesburg region at its Isando Campus.

This announcement follows Google’s announcement last week of the launch of the Google Cloud region in Johannesburg, which is its first on the African continent.

"Our direct connections to the Google Cloud infrastructure ensure our clients have direct, secure access to the critical [information technology] resources they need for business success. The launch of Google Cloud in Africa is another important milestone in our digital transformation journey,” says Teraco head of platforms Michele McCann.

Connecting directly to cloud providers is possible through Teraco’s cloud on-ramps, which enable rapid provisioning of services to multiple cloud providers.

These connections deliver high-performance, secure and low-latency cloud services to enterprises and Internet service providers in the region by connecting directly to cloud locations that are geographically closest to them, she explains.

Google Cloud Interconnect provides low-latency, high-availability connections that enable enterprises to reliably transfer data using direct physical connections between clients’ on-premises networks and the Google network, McCann adds.

Connecting to Google’s Cloud Interconnect means that traffic does not traverse the public Internet and is more reliable. It offers more consistent cloud networking services compared with Internet-based connections.

Additionally, the interconnect provides low-latency connection compared with the public Internet. Further, by bypassing the public Internet, traffic takes fewer hops and there are fewer points of failure.

The connection capacity is scaled to meet requirements, and the service offers increased reliability with a dedicated and pre-established network path. The interconnect also provides improved security because data traffic flows over trusted endpoints in a secure data centre location, McCann points out.

Google Cloud is designed to meet enterprise needs and offers powerful computing and networking performance, a comprehensive portfolio of infrastructure and platform cloud services and capabilities from application development and business analytics to data management, integration, security, machine learning, artificial intelligence and blockchain.