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Google Next ’24: Building with AI, redefining the cloud

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Held in Las Vegas, Google Cloud Next 2024 was a whirlwind of innovation and future-forward thinking. The energy was electric as developers, IT leaders, and visionaries converged to chart the course for what the cloud can achieve. From groundbreaking AI advancements to the democratization of data, below is a summary of the key themes and announcements. If you’re interested in more, here are all the 218 announcements from Google Next 2024!

Gemini for Google Cloud: AI at Your Fingertips

Google’s Gemini AI family took center stage, demonstrating its remarkable ability to understand and act upon natural language requests. Gemini is a powerhouse, generating code, crafting documents, building complex dashboards, and even providing insightful summaries of vast datasets. The implications are staggering: AI-powered development, business intelligence, and task automation are no longer futuristic concepts but ready-to-deploy realities.

What makes Gemini more impressive is its integration into nearly every aspect of the Google Cloud experience. This powerful AI engine makes Google Cloud accessible and intuitive – even for those new to the platform.

Data in the Spotlight

Google’s BigQuery got a major upgrade, expanding its role as the go-to unified data analytics platform. With cross-cloud interoperability, BigQuery Omni ensures that data doesn’t just reside in Google Cloud – and businesses can leverage data assets wherever they exist with exceptional ease.

AlloyDB AI updates now include functionalities like vector capabilities and flexible natural language support, This enables organizations of all sizes to build truly “intelligent” databases.

Workloads and Optimization

With the official release of Cloud TPU v5p, Google can deliver blistering performance for AI workloads. Couple that with the new A3 Mega VMs powered by NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs – and developers now have an expanded arsenal of workload-optimized infrastructure at their disposal.

Google also introduced Axion, its first custom Arm®-based CPU engineered specifically for the data center, thus demonstrating their commitment to continuous hardware evolution in support of cloud services.

Security and the Cloud: A Constant Priority

As the cloud expands, so do the potential risks. The importance of robust cybersecurity was emphasized with several announcements and discussions throughout the event. With Mandiant now deeply integrated into Google’s security posture, it sets the company as an industry leader in a field crucial for the future of cloud adoption.

The Human Element

Beyond the technological advancements, Google Next ’24 embraced the human side of innovation. Sessions focused on fostering diversity and inclusion in technology workspace, while the “Women in Cloud” event provided inspiration and networking opportunities to the growing demographic of female professionals. Google’s commitment to ethical and responsible AI development was also highlighted, emphasizing that responsible innovation is just as important as rapid innovation.

Workspace Announcements

AI-Powered Productivity Enhancements

Google Vids: This new AI-powered video creation app for work allows users to easily generate high-quality, short-form videos using simple text descriptions. Think presentation decks turned into dynamic videos automatically.
Live Caption Translation in Meet: Google Meet continues to break down communication barriers with enhanced features. “Translate for Me” provides automated live translated captions in an additional 52 languages, bringing the total supported languages to an impressive 69.
AI Meetings and Messaging Add-on: This package includes advanced features like “Take notes for me,” which creates automatic summaries and action items from your Google Meet calls.

Streamlined Collaboration and Organization

Enhanced Sheets and Docs: Google Sheets is getting a major facelift with a new “tables” feature designed to make data organization more intuitive. There’s also a collection of pre-built template “building blocks” – great for project management, event planning, and more. In Google Docs, look out for new full-bleed cover image options for a more personalized look.
Increased Member Capacity and Interoperability in Chat: Communicate more effectively! Spaces can now accommodate up to 500,000 members, and interoperability with Slack and Teams via Google partner Mio streamlines collaboration across different organizational communication channels.

Onix at Google Next ‘24

For Team Onix, Google Next ‘24 was the best event yet! Onix was a premier sponsor of the conference and our theme for this year was “Giving Data Wings”. We unveiled our newly redesigned Datametica Birds and featured their capabilities prominently. On the big screen, we featured a short animated film that demonstrates the power of the Datametica Birds. If you missed it, check it out here!

It was impossible to miss the Canoo truck that was featured in our booth. Wrapped in Onix branding and clouds, attendees got an up-close look at the future of electric vehicles and the work we are doing together to optimize fleet management with data and AI.

Our team of expert cloud consultants were onsite to solve business problems with Google Cloud technology. We featured 20+ demos across a wide range of industries and undeniable business outcomes… including how to migrate to the cloud for half the price in half the time!

We were honored to be recognized a few times throughout the conference. It was announced that Onix has been named the Google Cloud Specialization Partner of the Year for Work Transformation! This marks our 14th time being recognized as a Google Cloud Partner of the Year. We were also featured in the main keynote session for our work creating data agents for our customers – thank you to Brad Calder for the shout-out!

Our speaking sessions were well-attended and featured topics that are of critical importance to today’s IT decision-makers, including:

Architecting Success with Gen AI
Break the Ice: BigQuery vs Snowflake
Navigating the Gen AI Era Panel featuring TELUS and Wells Fargo

If you missed any of these sessions and want a debrief, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Finally, we hosted an after party at the House of Blues in the Mandalay Bay, featuring Trop Feels live band, a cricket simulator, photo booth, and a ton of fun! Thank you so much to everyone who came to celebrate with us!

That’s a wrap on Google Next ‘24. Much more to come from #TeamOnix!

Looking Ahead

Google Next ’24 wasn’t just about the here and now; it was an invitation to actively shape the future. While only time will tell the full story of how this year’s innovations will be utilized, one thing is certain: Google Cloud is committed to driving the next wave of transformation through powerful, accessible, and AI-driven technologies. The cloud won’t just be a platform – it’s going to be a collaborator.