Google Cloud Platform introduces 96-core option with abundant memory

Cloud computing platforms are still quietly expanding inside data centers. In a new product update, the Google Cloud Platform team announced that significantly more compute power is being made available for use.

Running on Intel Xeon Skylake processors, configurations of up to 96 vCPUs and 624GB of memory are now available as part of three standard configurations. The lower tier options still have the same 96 cores but have less memory. It may seem that such extreme configurations are unnecessary, but customers still have the option to scale even further. The absolute top of the line option from Google Cloud Platform now allows an astounding 9.75TB of memory paired with 16 of the 96 vCPU nodes.

For businesses and curious individuals, there are still custom machine types available that allow a reduced number of CPU cores and less memory to bring pricing down into more affordable territory. Older generations of CPUs can also be used to help bring costs down if compute time is not critical.

If you are still left confused as to what someone actually can do with mass quantities of compute power, you probably are not alone. Google is promoting the fact that their instances are certified for SAP HANA, a database software that stores information in memory instead of on traditional hard drives to greatly reduce the time it takes to retrieve data. Faster querying of information is highly beneficial for scientific research and for analyzing mass quantities of data.