Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, during his kickoff keynote at its digital Next 2020 event, underlined various ways the No. 3 cloud provider is assembling services in a bid to earn more business with mobile network operators. Those efforts include 5G and edge computing, customer service, and core network operations, he said.

“What we're offering with mobile edge cloud is the ability for a telecommunications company to build a set of virtualized network functions (VNF) and cloud-native functions for your packet core, for your evolved packet core (EPC), and for your radio access network (RAN), on top of Google's cloud,” Kurian said. 

Google Cloud also has a pre-packaged catalog of services for industrial IoT, retail, manufacturing, and other industry-specific use cases, he added. 

The company began making an all out push to position its cloud platform for mobile networking earlier this year, following an expansive agreement with AT&T and other networking giants. It also, at the time, released the Global Mobile Edge Cloud, which is an open cloud platform designed to let network operators and Google jointly develop applications and a distributed edge.

Google Cloud also rolled out a confidential computing service and a multi-cloud analytics tool this week to bolster its ability to target highly regulated industries. Kurian threaded that effort further in his keynote by highlighting what he described as a “very firm commitment” to data privacy at Google Cloud. 

“We recognize at Google Cloud that your data is your data and no one else's. When you move data into a cloud, we do not sell your data to any third parties. We do not use it for advertising. We only use it to deliver the cloud service that you're consuming in Google Cloud and guarantee the integrity of your data by encrypting it at rest, and in transit with confidential computing, even when it's being processed,” he said.

“With access transparency, access justification, and access approval, you have sole control of who can access your data,” Kurian added. “No one at Google has standing access to your data. And you have sole control of the location, in which the primary copy, the secondary copy, and any backups are maintained.”

Google Cloud has also broadened its footprint to 24 regions and 73 zones, allowing it to serve customers in more than 200 countries, he said. The business surpassed an annual run rate of $10 billion earlier this year.

As with every other tech event that’s been forced to conform to a digital format, the COVID-19 crisis overshadowed much of the discussion and future outlook. 

“This is a very defining moment for all of us around the world to have the hope and the optimism to reimagine your business as you recover from the pandemic. We at Google, take our responsibility to support you in that mission,” Kurian said.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of both parent company Alphabet and Google, noted that the post-pandemic world will be “much different than the one we left,” and while “it’s too early to know exactly how these changes will work,” some clear trends have already grown during the last four months.

“The future of work will be more digital,” as more than 75% of companies plan to accelerate digital transformation efforts, he said. “That means more investments in cloud. Recent estimates show public cloud penetration increasing to 20% by 2023.”

The lasting impacts of the pandemic will also fuel more collaboration and flexibility at work, according to Pichai. “We are still working from a foundation that was made around conference tables just a few months ago. The next phase will be more unstructured, requiring a solid investment in creative solutions and evolve our tools to facilitate collaboration,” he said.

“Since Google’s earliest days, we believe you don't have to be at your desk to get work done. The pandemic has reaffirmed that work is not defined by a physical place. It can happen anywhere.”