Source of financial data
Cloud / Knowledge library
Google Cloud Interconnect
Provides dedicated or partner private connectivity to Google Cloud VPC networks
Why learn Google Cloud Interconnect?
Teams use Google Cloud Interconnect to adopt dedicated private cloud connectivity without building the complete underlying platform themselves.
The problem it solves
Provides private high-capacity connectivity from external networks to cloud providers
Where it came from
Google Cloud Interconnect is Google Cloud's offering for dedicated private cloud connectivity. Its closest catalog counterparts are Azure ExpressRoute and AWS Direct Connect; they address the same broad need but are not feature-for-feature identical.
Build your understanding
Work through these exercises in order. Try the task before opening a reference.
- Explain the main responsibility of Google Cloud Interconnect.
- Choose a workload that fits Google Cloud Interconnect.
- Identify one operational tradeoff of Google Cloud Interconnect.
- Compare Google Cloud Interconnect with Azure ExpressRoute.
- Compare Google Cloud Interconnect with AWS Direct Connect.
Documentation and sources
- Google Cloud products at a glance (docs.cloud.google.com)
Connect the ideas
Alternatives
Real World Example
Secure Financial Data Bridge
A regional bank migrating sensitive transaction processing to Google Cloud while maintaining strict compliance requirements for private, non-internet-exposed traffic.
The business problem
The bank faces high latency and security risks when routing sensitive financial data over public internet tunnels, which fails to meet their internal audit requirements for dedicated private connectivity.
How this topic solves it
Cloud Interconnect provides dedicated or partner private connectivity to Google Cloud VPC networks, allowing the bank to bypass the public internet and establish a direct, private physical connection between their on-premises data center and their VPC.
- Provision a physical connection through a supported service provider or direct cross-connect at a Google colocation facility.
- Configure a Cloud Router in the target VPC to manage BGP sessions for dynamic route exchange.
- Establish VLAN attachments to map specific on-premises traffic to the VPC subnets.
- Verify the BGP session state to ensure routes are being advertised and learned correctly.
Shows the path from local infrastructure to the cloud VPC.
Physical link provider
Physical connection point
BGP route exchange
Destination environment
- On-Premises Data Center → Physical Link → Service Provider
- Service Provider → Cross-connect → Cloud Interconnect
- Cloud Interconnect → VLAN Attachment → Cloud Router
- Cloud Router → Route Propagation → VPC Network
Expected business outcome
The bank achieves a consistent, private, and secure network path for financial transactions, ensuring compliance with internal security mandates.
Limitations and checks
Cloud Interconnect requires physical infrastructure coordination and lead time for provisioning; verify status by checking the BGP session state and route advertisements in the Cloud Router console.