Last month today: June in Google Cloud

In June, we welcomed summer in the northern hemisphere, and we heard stories of struggle, protest, and perseverance. Our most-read stories reflected these realities, with many people still working and learning remotely.

Growing cloud infrastructure, virtually and physically

• Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters will soon be able to scale past the current limits, up to 15,000 nodes, offering a way for enterprises to run internet-scale services, simplify infrastructure management, speed up batch processing, and absorb large spikes in resource demands. See how Bayer Crop Science uses GKE to decide which seeds to advance in its research and development pipeline.

• We celebrated the launch of Google Cloud’s new Jakarta region (asia-southeast2) virtually last month. It’s the first Google Cloud region in Indonesia—one of the fastest growing economies in the world—and ninth in Asia Pacific. Users in this region can enjoy lower latency access to data and apps running on Google Cloud.

Working (and playing) at home

• As the pandemic moved the idea of having cloud-based devices from nice-to-have to a must-have, companies of all sizes rapidly shifted to a more versatile way of working by quickly deploying Chromebooks as a remote work solution. The VP of the Chrome OS shares his optimistic perspective of the future of computing as business leaders have had to accelerate their digital transformation and reimagine the way we work.

• Google Meet, available for free to anyone with an email address, added new features last month, including availability on the Nest Hub Max and layout improvements so you can see up to 16 participants and content being shared. We also announced a number of new Meet features we’re working on including tile layouts with up to 49 participants, background blur and replace, hand raising, breakout rooms, Jamboard integration, and more. 

• All remote work and no remote play isn’t any fun. Last month, we announced that our Google Maps Platform gaming solution is now open to all mobile game developers to create immersive real-world games. You can now quickly build mobile games with Google Maps Platform using the Maps SDK for Unity and the Playable Locations API, so your game can include real-world locations and gameplay. There are already some fun real-world games created that include hatching dinosaurs, birdwatching, and more.

Learning new things at home, for grownups and kids

• As summer began for many students last month, we announced new Meet features for educators, slated to launch later this year. More than 140 million educators and students use G Suite for Education, and new features are designed to improve moderation capabilities and engagement in remote or hybrid learning environments. These new features include knocking interface updates, hand raising, attendance tracking, and many more.

• Our Google Cloud training and certifications team also brought several new initiatives out last month, including Google Cloud skill badges, new certification prep learning journeys, and remote certification exam availability. You can get the first month of the certification prep training at no cost, and 30 days of unlimited Qwiklabs access too.

• If you’re looking for more ways to learn this summer, check out our Next ‘20: OnAir lineup, starting July 14. New content from customers and Google experts arrives each week, with themed weeks so you can pick your favorite topics, from application modernization to data analytics.

That’s a wrap for June. Till next month, keep in touch on Twitter.