Enterprises can now run real-time data across Google Cloud’s most advanced VMs

A few months ago Google Cloud started C4A as virtual machine (VM) instances supported by Axion, its first Arm-based CPU. As the next step in this work, C4A is now presented Titan SSDs – its specially designed local hard drives to improve storage and performance.

With this move, Google strengthens its C4A portfolio and offers VMs that can further increase cloud performance for demanding workloads Real-time data processing. The VMs combine, as the company puts it, ultra-low latency and high throughput storage with cost efficiency, creating an ideal package for running applications such as high-performance databases, analytics engines and search functions.

Currently, Google Cloud makes these Titanium SSD-equipped C4A VMs available in services such as Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Batch, and Dataproc. Standard C4A VMs are also available in preview in Dataflow, with support for Cloud SQL, AlloyDB, and other services in the pipeline.

What can you expect from Google’s C4A VMs with Titanium SSDs?

Google Cloud’s C4A instances typically have three storage options: Persistent Disk, Hyperdisk, or Local SSD. Persistent Disk is the standard block storage service that shares performance between volumes of the same type. Hyperdisk, on the other hand, offers dedicated performance and supports up to 350,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) and 5 GB/s throughput per volume – which offers significantly better performance than persistent disk.

However, for some workloads, particularly those that require local storage capacity, even Hyperdisk can struggle. This is where local SSDs come into play, with Titanium SSDs being the latest innovation in this category.

The new C4A instances with Titanium SSDs deliver up to 2.4 million random read input/output operations per second, 10.4 GiB/s read throughput, and 35% lower access latency compared to previous generation SSDs.

Titanium SSDs, connected directly to the compute instances in the host server, offload the CPU from storage and networking tasks, freeing up resources to increase application security and throughput performance. This innovation comes from Google’s Titanium system. It performs offloading from the host CPU to a system of custom silicon, hardware, and software on the host and across the enterprise Data centersconnected to the host CPU via a Titanium Offload Processor.

The configuration offered

At its core, the new C4A family of Titanium SSDs has up to 72 vCPUs, 576 GB of memory and 6 TB of local storage. Enterprises can choose between standard (4GB/vCPU) and high-memory (8GB/vCPU) configurations. Connectivity options, on the other hand, can scale up to 100 Gbps.

All of these can easily support high-traffic workloads with real-time data processing such as web/app servers, high-performance databases, etc. Data analysis engines and search. Additionally, it can power applications that require in-memory caching, media streaming and transcoding, and CPU-based AI/ML.

“C4A…offers up to 65% better price-performance ratio and up to 60% better energy efficiency than comparable current generation x86-based instances. Together, C4A and Titanium SSDs provide industry-leading price/performance for a wide range of general-purpose Arm-compatible workloads,” wrote Varun Shah and Nate Baum, senior product managers at Google Cloud, in a joint blog post.

Early adopters notice 40% higher throughput

While C4A VMs with Titanium SSDs are just becoming generally available, some early adopters are already seeing performance gains from them. These include big names like Couchbase and Elastic.

Matt McDonough, SVP of Products and Partners at Couchbase, highlighted how Capella Columnar, running on Google Axion C4A instances with Titanium SSDs, delivers unprecedented price-performance advantages, ultra-low latency, and scalable compute performance for analytical and operational workloads . Similarly, Elastic’s Uri Cohen said the company has seen 40% higher throughput than previous generations of VMs.

C4A VMs with Titanium SSDs are now generally available in key regions including the US, Europe and Asia, with further expansion planned. Customers can access it through on-demand, spot VMs, and discounted pricing options.

With significant advances in performance, power efficiency and scalability, C4A VMs with Titanium SSDs meet the needs of modern businesses and set new standards for cloud workloads.