Google Scrapped Cloud Initiative in China, 'Sensitive Markets' (bloomberg.com) 13
Google abandoned plans to offer a major new cloud service in China and other politically sensitive countries due in part to concerns over geopolitical tensions and the pandemic, Blloomberg reported Wednesday, citing two employees familiar with the matter, revealing the challenges for U.S. tech giants to secure business in those markets. From a report: In May, the search giant shut down the initiative, known as "Isolated Region" and which sought to address nations' desires to control data within their borders, the employees said. The action was considered a "massive strategy shift," according to one of the employees, who said Isolated Region had involved hundreds of employees scattered around the world. Alphabet's Google is pouring money into cloud computing, part of a broader effort to find new sources of growth beyond search advertising. Google Cloud generated $8.9 billion in revenue in 2019 -- a 53% increase over the previous year -- as it has pushed into sectors such as finance and government that require special security clearance and features that shield confidential data. Rivals Microsoft and Amazon.com already offer these capabilities via their cloud units.
Google's recent decision to nix the Isolated Region project was made partly because of global political divisions, which were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the two employees, who requested anonymity because the project hasn't previously been made public. The initiative would have allowed Google to set up cloud services controlled by a third party, such as a locally owned company or a government agency. The result would be a business sequestered from Google's existing cloud computing services, which include data centers and computer networks. In January 2019, amid growing tensions between the U.S. and China, Google decided to pause its plans for Isolated Region in China and instead began to prioritize potential customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to the two employees.
Google's recent decision to nix the Isolated Region project was made partly because of global political divisions, which were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the two employees, who requested anonymity because the project hasn't previously been made public. The initiative would have allowed Google to set up cloud services controlled by a third party, such as a locally owned company or a government agency. The result would be a business sequestered from Google's existing cloud computing services, which include data centers and computer networks. In January 2019, amid growing tensions between the U.S. and China, Google decided to pause its plans for Isolated Region in China and instead began to prioritize potential customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to the two employees.
The GOOG man sells to the G man (Score:1)
RSS (Score:2)
Yo, Slashdot. Your RSS subdomain is giving me grief. Did something happen?
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$ curl https://rss.slashdot.org/ [slashdot.org]
curl: (35) LibreSSL SSL_connect: SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL in connection to rss.slashdot.org:443
Ha! COVID related....riiiiiiiiiight. (Score:3)
Let's see here, last year China made it a serious crime to store any encrypted data within the country and not provide the government/party/intel/military complex with the ability to decrypt it and a backdoor to do it.
so...
Just what good is a fully unencrypted cloud????
For Google to monetize, they need people to use it and competitors to not clone it. If, however, everybody knows their data is either not encrypted or encrypted with keys that are compromised, and if there are people out there with a back door and keys and therefore the ability to clone, then where is the model for monetizing??? Google has, like many companies, bought into the "get rich in China! they have BILLIONS of consumers!" line, and Google seems unable to fully accept the reality that China is not a free market economy and a free society. This was not their first attempt to mine money there and will not be their last, they have abandoned their "don't be evil" motto and there's nothing moral in their pause over this effort (i.e. like Apple, they suddenly have no "human rights" concerns when Chinese money is on the line).
2020 is full of stories of business people who are covering up for all sorts of failures and screw-ups, many tied to pre-2020 bad actions, by blaming them on the pandemic. People should not be so gullible and fall into accepting the spin.
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Let's see here, last year China made it a serious crime to store any encrypted data within the country and not provide the government/party/intel/military complex with the ability to decrypt it and a backdoor to do it.
We keep trying to do this in the US. We're just not as competent at dominating our civilian population, but the cold war psychology still runs deep in us too.
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2020 is full of stories of business people who are covering up for all sorts of failures and screw-ups, many tied to pre-2020 bad actions, by blaming them on the pandemic.
"Never let a crisis go to waste" is an old idea long predating our favorite Obama chief-of-staff. Somebody leaves a company? You have six to 12 months of ready-made excuses for why stuff broke. I wouldn't be surprised if everybody on this board has or will use The Big C as a reason, if not an excuse, for something or other.
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they have abandoned their "don't be evil" motto
Fake news. The motto is still in the employee handbook, and is still considered an important principle in Google.
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Unfortunately that concept seems to have been abandoned in the executive suites, but I don't think anyone really believed it would last long anyway.
Most of the large corporations are schizophrenic to some extent. I remember working on a project with some guys from General Dynamics. Great guys, very competent, interested in doing a job that integrated a whole slew of technologies into a cohesive whole (a physical security system management and response project) that would be very valuable for the customers
How bout cuz CCP is an evil repressive rigime? (Score:1)
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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]:
sometimes referred to in English as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
But whatever, please continue exacerbating the gap between the two major parties in the US. That surely will help.