Google Opens London Data Centre, Flying In the Face Of Brexit Worries

Google has announced the opening of its London data centre region to expand its European footprint for the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). 

Formed of three zones the new data centre region, given the flashy name of europe-west2, is the tenth GCP region and joins Belgium as a part of Google’s European footprint. 

The search giant has plans to open further European GCP regions this year, including locations in Germany, Finland and the Netherlands. 

London calling 

Despite the triggering of Article 50 and Brexit hanging over the UK and its economy like the sword of Damocles, Google’s new London data centre, the exact location of which has not been disclosed, re-enforces the search giant’s claims to be unaffected by Britain’s fractured decision to leave the European Union. 

Ronan Harris, managing director of UK and Ireland, highlighted that London was chosen as the home of Google’s UK data centre due to the city being rife with technology and innovation.

“[London] is the home of digital and the home of digital innovation,” he said at a launch event attended by Silicon. 

“This announcement today I think brings that innovation even closer to the great technologists, scientists, and entrepreneurs that exist in the UK and are working today on the next industries, industries such as AI, as virtual reality, and as augmented reality.

“This new infrastructure is going to enable and empower that even further, and it’s also going to empower existing businesses to be able to take advantage to drive productivity.” 

Harris also reiterated that Google is not going to ignore the potential the UK market and its technology industry has to offer, even as the Brexit negotiations are underway and have prompted others to view the UK’s future with some trepidation. 

“It also underlines Google’s continued commitment to the UK; as well as this we are also investing in our new offices up at King’s Cross,” he noted, highlighting how the expansion of the King’s Cross headquarters will see capacity for staff rise from 4,000 to 7,000. 

As one of the largest and most influential companies in the world, Google’s commitment to the UK is positive, but it is worth remembering that Google is the type of company that has the money and clout to weather any storm Brexit throws up; other firms are not so lucky and time will tell if leaving the EU is a blessing to them or a curse. 

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