With the continued growth in demand for multicloud capabilities, there is also a need for easier networking across multiple cloud providers.

It's a situation that Google is looking to solve with its Cross-Cloud Network technology that was announced at this week’s Google Cloud Next '23 event. Google said its Cross-Cloud Network aims to simplify connectivity and security across multicloud and hybrid environments.

The platform combines Google's own networking products with partner offerings to address common use cases like building distributed applications, delivering internet-facing apps and securing hybrid workforces.

Key capabilities include managed interconnects between Google Cloud and major public clouds including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Advanced security is enabled through integrations with partners like Palo Alto Networks.

[caption id="attachment_133951" align="alignnone" width="770"] A screenshot of Muninder Sambi, VP/GM of cloud networking at Google, during his presentation at Google Cloud Next '23.[/caption]

“With Cross-Cloud Network we will now be able to provide you — on demand — any-to-any connectivity where you can actually connect AWS, Azure and others directly into Google Cloud without having to invest in physical infrastructure and manage that life cycle of the infrastructure,” Muninder Sambi, VP/GM of cloud networking at Google, said during a session at Next '23.

The Cross-Cloud Network initiative includes the Cross-Cloud Interconnect service that Google initially disclosed in May. At Next '23, Google provided more details, as well as actual customer use cases.

The basic idea with the new Cross-Cloud Network is to provide a comprehensive set of services and capabilities that enable multicloud capabilities, with Interconnect helping to serve as a foundational element.

Sambi explained that Cross-Cloud Interconnect is a managed internet service with Google-backed service level agreements (SLAs). He noted that the service benefits from what he referred to as Google's “planet scale” network that powers all Google services today, with 38 regions, 187 network edges and billions of dollars in subsea cable investments.

The Cross-Cloud Network is also intended by Google to be an open ecosystem, where partner technologies can plug in, particularly when it comes to security.

“The Cross-Cloud Network is an open platform that helps you provide consistent security as well as lower your TCO [total cost of ownership],” Sambi said. “It's an open platform because you can bring in any vendor, any ecosystem partner that you're working with, and engage that partner. As part of this journey we are not asking you to rip and replace your existing infrastructure or your existing security vendor.”

Among the early adopters of Google's Cross-Cloud Network is retail giant Walmart.

During the session with Sambi, Gerald Bothello, sr. director software engineering for Cloud at Walmart, detailed the retailer's multicloud use case. Bothello said Walmart is using three cloud service providers spread across multiple regions.

The goal for Walmart’s multicloud setup is to enable its internal users to place workloads in the right locations to have the lowest possible latency for application performance.

“We wanted to go from a public cloud provider to Google directly, so this helped us to reduce the latency,” Bothello said. “It gives us a solid reliability of 99.99% plus it reduces the cost for us.”

Beyond just enabling better cross-cloud connectivity, Bothello said Walmart also intends to use the Google Cross-Cloud Network for figuring out data storage as well as artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.

“As you guys release more services we're going to keep pushing it,” he said.