Introduction
Google Cloud Next is a significant event where Google announces its latest cloud computing innovations and advancements. This 12-minute summary video provides a comprehensive overview of the major announcements made at the event, focusing on infrastructure improvements, AI capabilities, and new tools for enterprises. The video highlights Google’s continued investment in cloud technology and artificial intelligence, demonstrating their commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions for businesses of all sizes.
Google Cloud Next ’25 Product Releases
a) Infrastructure & Networking
Cloud Wide Area Network (Cloud WAN)
- Google’s global private network made available to enterprises worldwide
- Optimized for application performance with 40% faster performance
- Reduces total cost of ownership by up to 40%
- Already adopted by companies like Citadel Securities and Nestle
- Available to all Google Cloud customers later this month
Ironwood TPUs (7th Generation)
- Most powerful TPU chip Google has ever built, achieving 3,600x better performance compared to first-gen TPUs
- 29x more energy efficient than previous generations
- Features over 9,000 chips per pod
- Delivers 42.5 exaflops of compute per pod (24x more than the world’s top supercomputer)
- Designed to meet exponentially growing demands of advanced AI models like Gemini 2.5
b) AI Inference Capabilities
Enhanced GKE Inference
- New inference capabilities in Google Kubernetes Engine
- Includes GenAI scaling and load balancing features
- Reduces serving costs by up to 30%
- Decreases tail latency by up to 60%
- Increases throughput by up to 40%
Pathways ML Runtime
- Google DeepMind’s distributed ML runtime now available to cloud customers
- Enables state-of-the-art multi-host inferencing
- Supports dynamic scaling with high performance at optimal costs
- Allows scaling out model serving to hundreds of accelerators
VLM for TPUs
- Virtual Linear Memory now available for TPUs
- Lets customers who optimize PyTorch with VLM for GPUs easily run workloads on TPUs
- Provides cost-efficient performance optimization
c) Gemini & Security
Google Distributed Cloud for Gemini
- Gemini now runs on Google Distributed Cloud locally in:
- Air-gapped environments
- Connected environments
- Supports NVIDIA’s confidential computing
- Compatible with Blackwell systems (DGX B200 and HGX B200 platforms)
- Dell announced as a key partner
- Google Distributed Cloud air gap product now authorized for US government secret and top secret missions
d) Google Workspace Enhancements
New Gemini-Powered Features
- “Help me analyze” in Google Sheets for guided expert-level data analysis
- Audio overviews in Google Docs for creating high-quality audio versions of content
- Google Workspace Flows for automating repetitive tasks and making better-informed decisions
e) AI Models & Creative Tools (Vertex AI)
Model Availability
- Meta’s Llama 4 now generally available on Vertex AI
- Ai2’s full portfolio of open models accessible on Vertex AI Model Garden
New video, image, speech and music generative AI tools
- Lyria, Google’s text-to-music model, is now available in private preview with allowlist on Vertex AI. This means customers can generate complete, production-ready assets starting with a text prompt.
- Veo 2 has new editing and camera controls features available in preview with allowlist that help enterprise customers refine and repurpose video content with precision.
- Chirp 3 now includes Instant Custom Voice, a new way to create custom voices with just 10 seconds of audio input.
- Imagen 3 has improved image generation and inpainting capabilities for reconstructing missing or damaged portions of an image and is making object removal edits even higher quality.
These updates make Vertex AI the only platform with generative media models across video, image, speech and music. Learn more about these new generative media features for Vertex AI on the Google Cloud blog.
f) Data & AI Platform Improvements
Vertex AI Enhancements
- Connect to any data source or vector database on any cloud
- Build agents directly on existing NetApp storage without data duplication
- Connect to enterprise applications including Oracle, SAP, ServiceNow, and Workday
- Comprehensive approach to model factuality through grounding with:
- Google Search
- Enterprise data
- Google Maps
- Third-party sources
g) AI Agent Ecosystem
Agent Development Kit
- New open-source framework for building sophisticated multi-agent systems
- Build Gemini-powered agents that can use tools and perform complex multi-step tasks
- Supports the Model Context Protocol for unified data source and tool access
- Includes agent-to-agent protocol for cross-framework communication
Google Agent Space
- Enterprise platform putting AI agents in hands of every employee
- Combines Google enterprise search, conversational AI, and Gemini/third-party agents
- Tools include purpose-built connectors to search and interact with:
- Documents
- Databases
- SaaS applications
- Features advanced security and compliance protections
h) Customer Engagement & Industry Solutions
Next-Gen Customer Engagement Suite
- Human-like voices with emotion comprehension capabilities
- Streaming video support for real-time visual interpretation
- No-code interface for building custom agents
- API integration for specific business tasks (product lookup, cart management, checkout)
Specialized Agents
- Data Engineering Teams:
- Catalog automation
- Metadata generation
- Data quality maintenance
- Data pipeline generation
- Data Science Teams:
- Comprehensive coding partner in data science notebooks
- Workflow acceleration for data loading, feature engineering, and predictive modeling
- Data Analysts/Business Users:
- Conversational analytics agent for natural language analysis
- Embeddable in web or mobile applications
Code Assist Agents
- Comprehensive help for code modernization
- Support for full software development lifecycle
- Interactive Kanban board with real-time task display
- Integrations with dozens of partners including Atlassian, Sentry, and Snyk
Video about Google Next 25 Product Release
Summary of the Video :
Infrastructure and Hardware Advancements
Google announced the introduction of Cloud Wide Area Network (Cloud WAN), making Google’s global private network available to enterprises worldwide. This network leverages Google’s planet-scale infrastructure, optimizing application performance with 40% faster performance while reducing total cost of ownership by up to 40%. Companies like Citadel Securities and Nestle are already using this network, and it will be available to all Google Cloud customers later this month. The seventh-generation TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) named “Ironwood” was also unveiled. Compared to Google’s first publicly available TPU, Ironwood achieves 3,600 times better performance while being 29 times more energy efficient. These TPU pods contain over 9,000 chips per pod, delivering 42.5 exaflops of computing power—24 times more than the world’s number one supercomputer, which supports 1.7 exaflops.
AI Software and Inference Enhancements
Google introduced three key enhancements for AI inference:
- New inference capabilities in Google Kubernetes Engine, including GenAI scaling and load balancing features that help reduce serving costs by up to 30%, tail latency by up to 60%, and increase throughput by up to 40%.
- Pathways, Google’s distributed ML runtime that powers Gemini, is now available to cloud customers for the first time. Developed by Google DeepMind, Pathways enables state-of-the-art multi-host inferencing for dynamic scaling with high performance at optimal costs.
- VLM (Virtual Linear Memory) is coming to TPUs, allowing customers who optimize PyTorch with VLM for GPUs to easily run their workloads on TPUs cost-efficiently. These enhancements collectively enable Google to deliver more intelligence at consistently lower prices, with Gemini 2.0 Flash achieving 24 times higher intelligence per dollar compared to GPT-4o and five times higher than DeepSeek R1.
Gemini and Workspace Innovations
Gemini will now run on Google Distributed Cloud locally in air-gapped environments as well as connected environments, with support for NVIDIA’s confidential computing and Blackwell systems (DGX B200 and HGX B200 platforms) with Dell as a key partner. Google Distributed Cloud air gap product is now authorized for US government secret and top-secret missions, with Gemini available on this platform. New Workspace innovations include: • “Help me analyze” in Google Sheets for expert-level data analysis • Audio overviews in Google Docs to create high-quality audio versions of content • Google Workspace Flows to automate repetitive tasks and make decisions with more context
AI Models and Agent Development
Google announced the general availability of Meta’s Llama 4 on Vertex AI, and that AI2’s full portfolio of open models are accessible on Vertex AI Model Garden. They also introduced LiA (Lyrical AI), making Google Cloud the first hyperscaler to offer the capability to transform text prompts into 30-second music clips. For model factuality, Google offers comprehensive grounding approaches combining Google Search, enterprise data, Google Maps, and third-party sources. Vertex AI now allows connection to any data source or vector database on any cloud, with the ability to build agents directly on existing NetApp storage without requiring data duplication. The company introduced: • A new Agent Development Kit, an open-source framework for building sophisticated multi-agent systems • The Model Context Protocol, providing a unified way for AI models to access various data sources and tools • A new agent-to-agent protocol allowing agents to communicate regardless of underlying models and frameworks • Google Agent Space, enabling every employee to find information, converse with AI agents, and have these agents take action on their behalf
Customer and Developer Experience
Google announced their next generation of customer engagement suite featuring: • Human-like voices with emotion comprehension • Streaming video support for real-time visual interpretation • AI assistance to build custom agents in a no-code interface • Tool integration through API calls for specific tasks The company also introduced specialized agents for data teams: • Data engineering agents for catalog automation, metadata generation, data quality, and pipeline generation • Data science agents as comprehensive coding partners for workflows • Conversational analytics agents for natural language analysis For developers, new Code Assist agents were announced to help with modernizing code and the full software development lifecycle, featuring Kanban board integration and partnerships with companies like Atlassian, Sentry, and Snyk.
Software Engineering Opportunities in Southeast Asia with Google’s New Tools
The recent announcements at Google Cloud Next ’25 open up significant opportunities for software engineers in Southeast Asia.
Market Context in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is experiencing rapid digital transformation, with countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia emerging as tech hubs with growing demand for cloud expertise. The region’s cloud computing market is projected to grow substantially over the next few years.
Career Opportunities with Google’s New Tools
AI Infrastructure Specialization
- TPU Expertise: Engineers who learn to optimize workloads for Google’s new Ironwood TPUs will be in high demand, as these 7th-generation TPUs offer unprecedented computing power for AI applications.
- Cloud WAN Implementation: Network engineers who can help regional enterprises implement and migrate to Google’s Cloud WAN can command premium salaries, especially with the promised 40% performance improvements.
AI/ML Development Roles
- Gemini Application Developers: Build enterprise applications using Gemini, particularly for sectors like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing that are rapidly growing in Southeast Asia.
- Agent Development: The new Agent Development Kit creates opportunities for engineers to build sophisticated multi-agent systems for businesses across the region.
- LLM Optimization: Specialists who can fine-tune models like Llama 4 on Vertex AI for local languages and regional use cases.
Industry-Specific Solutions
- Financial Services: Develop secure solutions using Google Distributed Cloud with confidential computing for Southeast Asia’s growing fintech sector.
- Government Tech: Engineers with security clearance can work on air-gapped Gemini implementations for government agencies.
- E-commerce Enhancement: Implement next-gen customer engagement solutions using Google’s new tools to support the booming e-commerce industry in markets like Indonesia and Vietnam.
Data Engineering Evolution
- Data Pipeline Specialists: The specialized agents for data teams create demand for engineers who can build and maintain modern data architectures.
- Analytics Engineers: Develop solutions using Google’s conversational analytics agents to help Southeast Asian businesses extract value from their data.
Skills to Develop
- Cloud Infrastructure: Deep knowledge of Google Cloud architecture, focusing on TPUs, distributed systems, and security.
- AI/ML Engineering: Practical experience with Vertex AI, model deployment, and agent development.
- Local Language Processing: Ability to adapt and train models for Southeast Asian languages.
- Industry Domain Knowledge: Understanding of regional regulations and requirements in key industries.
- Full-Stack Development: Combining Google Workspace integrations with custom solutions.
Potential Employers
- Google Cloud Partners: Regional system integrators and consultancies
- Enterprise IT Departments: Banks, telecoms, and conglomerates undergoing digital transformation
- Tech Startups: AI-focused startups in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam
- Government Digital Agencies: GovTech initiatives across Southeast Asia
- Google Regional Offices: Direct employment supporting customer implementation
Conclusion
Google Cloud Next ’25 showcased groundbreaking innovations that transform the cloud computing landscape. From the powerful Ironwood TPUs and Cloud WAN infrastructure to sophisticated AI agent frameworks and specialized tools, Google has positioned itself at the forefront of enterprise AI. These technologies create substantial opportunities for software engineers in Southeast Asia’s rapidly evolving tech ecosystem, particularly in AI infrastructure, agent development, and industry-specific solutions. As the region embraces digital transformation, professionals who master these tools will be invaluable in helping businesses leverage advanced cloud capabilities. The convergence of Google’s innovation with Southeast Asia’s growth creates a promising environment for technological advancement and career development.
Key Takeaways
- Significant hardware advancements with Cloud WAN and Ironwood TPUs that dramatically increase performance while improving efficiency
- Comprehensive AI inference enhancements that make advanced AI more accessible and cost-effective
- Wide integration of Gemini across Google’s ecosystem, including high-security environments
- A strong focus on agent development and multi-agent systems for enterprise applications
- Specialized AI solutions for different business functions and roles These announcements reflect Google’s strategy to provide integrated, intelligent, and secure cloud solutions that can handle increasingly complex workloads while making advanced AI capabilities accessible to businesses of all sizes.
