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Cloud Infrastructure Provider: Google

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is Google's suite of cloud computing services running on the same infrastructure that powers Google Search, YouTube, and Gmail. For AI/ML, GCP offers Vertex AI (unified ML platform), TPU pods (custom AI accelerators), native access to Gemini models, and 200+ foundation models. GCP excels in data analytics (BigQuery), AI research tools, and global network infrastructure. Powers AI for Anthropic, Cohere, and leading enterprises. Key strengths: cutting-edge AI research integration, TPU performance, multimodal capabilities (Gemini 2.5), and serverless scalability.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
cloud-infrastructure gcp google-cloud vertex-ai tpu

Overview

GCP provides comprehensive AI infrastructure with deep integration of Google's AI research. Vertex AI unifies the ML workflow: data preparation, model training, deployment, and monitoring in single platform. Access to Gemini 2.5 (state-of-the-art multimodal model), Gemini 2.5 Flash (ultra-fast), and 200+ foundation models including Llama, Claude via Model Garden. TPU v5e pods deliver 2× better performance per dollar than GPUs for transformer training. AutoML enables no-code model training. Generative media models: Veo 2 (video), Imagen 3 (images), Lyria (music), Chirp 3 (speech)—GCP is the only platform with all four modalities.

BigQuery ML integrates ML into SQL queries for data analysts. Cloud Run provides serverless inference with automatic scaling. Vertex AI Workbench offers JupyterLab environment with pre-installed libraries. MLOps features include Vertex AI Pipelines, Model Registry, and Explainable AI. Security: VPC Service Controls, customer-managed encryption keys, compliance (ISO, SOC, HIPAA). Global network with 200+ points of presence ensures low latency worldwide.

Key AI/ML Services

  • **Vertex AI**: Unified ML platform with AutoML, custom training, Model Garden, deployment
  • **Gemini 2.5/2.5 Pro**: Multimodal models via Vertex AI and Gemini API
  • **Model Garden**: 200+ foundation models (Llama, Claude, Mistral, Gemini)
  • **TPU v5e/v5p**: Custom AI accelerators, 2× better cost-performance than GPUs for transformers
  • **Generative Media**: Veo 2 (video), Imagen 3 (images), Lyria (music), Chirp 3 (speech)
  • **BigQuery ML**: SQL-based ML for data analysts, no Python required
  • **Cloud Vision API**: Pre-trained computer vision models for image analysis
  • **Cloud Natural Language API**: Entity extraction, sentiment analysis, syntax parsing
  • **Document AI**: OCR, form parsing, specialized processors (invoices, receipts)
  • **Speech-to-Text/Text-to-Speech**: 125+ languages, custom voice training
  • **Translation API**: Neural machine translation for 100+ languages
  • **AutoML**: No-code model training for images, text, tabular data, video

Use Cases

  • LLM fine-tuning and deployment with Vertex AI for enterprise chatbots
  • Large-scale transformer training on TPU pods (BERT, T5, Gemini-scale models)
  • Multimodal AI applications combining text, vision, audio with Gemini 2.5
  • Data analytics + ML with BigQuery ML for business intelligence
  • Generative media production: Veo 2 video, Imagen 3 images, Lyria music
  • Document processing pipelines with Document AI for automation
  • Real-time translation services with Translation API for global apps
  • Computer vision at scale with Cloud Vision API for retail, security
  • Recommendation systems with Vertex AI for e-commerce, media
  • MLOps pipelines with Vertex AI Pipelines for production ML
  • Research and experimentation with free credits and academic programs
  • Hybrid ML with Anthos for on-premise + cloud deployments

Pricing and Economics

GCP offers pay-as-you-go pricing with per-second billing (more granular than AWS/Azure). Committed use discounts provide up to 70% savings for 1-3 year terms. Sustained use discounts apply automatically for resources used >25% of month. TPU pricing: v5e from $1.20/hr per chip, v5p from $4.80/hr—often cheaper than equivalent GPU training. Vertex AI charges for training compute, prediction endpoints, and storage. Gemini API pricing: $0.00025/1K input tokens, $0.001/1K output (Flash model). Free tier: $300 credits for 90 days, always-free BigQuery (1TB queries/month), 300 minutes speech-to-text monthly.

Integration with 21medien Services

21medien builds GCP-based AI solutions for clients requiring Google's advanced AI capabilities. We architect Vertex AI pipelines for custom model training, deploy Gemini-powered applications for multimodal AI, optimize TPU workloads for cost-effective transformer training, implement BigQuery ML for data teams, configure generative media workflows (Veo 2, Imagen 3), and manage production ML infrastructure. Our Google Cloud certifications ensure best practices. We handle multi-region deployments, hybrid cloud with Anthos, compliance configurations, and ongoing optimization. For enterprises adopting GCP or migrating from other clouds, 21medien provides architecture consulting, migration services, and managed operations.

Official Resources

https://cloud.google.com/