Google Cloud and SpaceX are partnering to deliver data, cloud services and applications to customers at the edge of the network. The new capabilities are expected to be available in the second half of this year.
The announcement comes only a few weeks after T-Mobile and Lumen inked a deal for T-Mobile to connect Lumen edge computing infrastructure with T-Mobile’s 5G mobile network.
Under terms of the Spacex-Google Cloud partnership, SpaceX will place Starlink ground stations in Google data center facilities. With the ground stations, the data center facilities will be able to securely deliver data from more than 1,500 Starlink satellites launched to-date to network edge locations via Google Cloud.
The partners see organizations with broad footprints, like public sector agencies, businesses with presences at the network edge, or those operating in rural or remote areas as the primary prospects that can benefit from such services.
“Applications and services running in the cloud can be transformative for organizations, whether they’re operating in a highly networked or remote environment,” Urs Hölzle, Google Cloud senior vice president, infrastructure, said in a prepared statement. “We are delighted to partner with SpaceX to ensure that organizations with distributed footprints have seamless, secure, and fast access to the critical applications and services they need to keep their teams up and running.”
“Combining Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency broadband with Google’s infrastructure and capabilities provides global organizations with the secure and fast connection that modern organizations expect,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and chief operating officer, in a prepared statement. “We are proud to work with Google to deliver this access to businesses, public sector organizations, and many other groups operating around the world.”
