Google Cloud & Gulf Edge join forces for Thai cloud service

Google Cloud and Gulf Edge Company have announced a multi-year agreement to provide sovereign cloud services in Thailand. In line with Thailand's stringent data residency, security, and privacy requirements, the partnership aims to support organisations in key industries in their digital transformations using advanced AI and analytics capabilities.

Under the agreement, Gulf Edge will be authorised by Google Cloud to operate Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) as a Managed GDC Provider (MGP). The focus will be on air-gapped configurations for organisations in Thailand, ensuring data, operations, and software sovereignty within the country's borders. This setup aligns with legal frameworks such as the Personal Data Protection Act.

Sarath Ratanavadi, CEO of Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited, stated, "Our partnership with Google Cloud on Thailand's first sovereign cloud solution with built-in AI and analytics reinforces Gulf's commitment to technological leadership and sustainable development. We chose GDC based on its unique ability to isolate operations from the public internet while providing powerful AI capabilities. This will allow our mission-critical energy and utility systems to handle data-intensive tasks with enhanced security and resilience."

Gulf Edge will offer deployment options for GDC air-gapped on-premises or within a Gulf group data centre. These employ flexible hardware options, including general-purpose central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), to meet specific organisational workload requirements. The collaboration ensures that the data remains completely under the customer's control and complies with all local regulatory mandates.

Through GDC, organisations in Thailand will gain access to Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform, which supports the development and deployment of advanced machine learning (ML) and generative AI applications in a chosen sovereign location. By combining AI analytics capabilities, businesses can innovate in areas such as personalised healthcare treatments, improved economic modelling, enhanced public services, rapid emergency responses, and optimised energy production.

Highlighting the strategic importance of this partnership, Sarath Ratanavadi added, "The successful delivery of GDC in Thailand is a strategic imperative, as its adoption across regulated industries will not only boost our country's digital competitiveness but also create new revenue opportunities for our company. Looking ahead, we're eager to expand our partnership with Google Cloud, especially in areas where there are synergies between their technologies and our core competencies, to advance the growth of our business in Thailand and abroad."

Karan Bajwa, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Google Cloud, commented, "As part of our commitment to the Royal Thai Government to provide resilient and innovation-driven digital infrastructure for the country, we're very pleased to bring on board Gulf Edge as our first MGP in Thailand to deliver GDC air-gapped for local organisations."

"This next-generation, AI-enabled sovereign cloud solution will enable the public sector and other regulated industries to accelerate digital transformation on their own terms, even when faced with stringent digital sovereignty requirements. GDC empowers organisations to unlock new ways to analyse data, uncover insights, boost productivity, and build modern applications while ensuring they have complete control and protection of their sensitive data."

The partnership aims to explore expanded collaboration opportunities in cloud computing, AI, and cybersecurity to drive digital transformation and support startup acceleration in Thailand. By leveraging Google Cloud's enterprise-grade AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools, alongside Gulf's expertise in power generation and digital infrastructure, the alliance seeks to position Thailand as a leader in regional digital innovation.

GDC's multiple layers of security, including hardware, host and node, application, and network security, along with comprehensive cryptography and compliance monitoring, ensure that the cloud solution remains compliant with Thai regulations and protects confidential data. Organisations will also have access to Google Cloud's Kubernetes Engine, NVIDIA Tensor Core GPUs, AlloyDB Omni database engine, and Dataproc for running open-source data analytics within an air-gapped environment.