Why Intel for Compute-Intensive Workloads on Google Cloud?
What’s the Challenge?
- Massive data growth, new frontiers in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), high-performance compute (HPC) workloads: all of these and more are driving an insatiable demand for more compute power in the cloud.
- Some organizations need compute-optimized instances with near real-time performance to meet their business requirements. Other organizations have a wide range of compute-intensive workloads—and while they may not need real-time performance, they do need instances that are designed from the ground up to process data efficiently.
- Customers need help choosing the Google Cloud machine type that best enables them to balance performance and cost considerations in order to be efficient and cloud agile.
What’s the Solution?
Google Cloud C2 and N2 Instances Enabled by Intel® Architecture
Google Cloud and Intel have been co-innovating to create cloud computing environments that can meet a wide range of compute needs. Google Cloud instances enabled by Intel® architecture include the general-purpose N2 instance, as well as the compute-optimized C2 instance. The Intel® hardware and software behind these machine types can increase compute performance and operational efficiency, and can help transform Google Cloud customers’ businesses into digital powerhouses. Using the combination of Google Cloud and Intel® technology, your end customers can process more data in less time, make faster decisions and create better experiences for their customers.
C2: Near Real-Time Performance for the Most Demanding Workloads
With the highest per-core performance on Google Cloud1, C2 instances based on 2nd generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors are ideal for multi-player gaming, HPC, video encoding and real-time web serving. The instances can provide up to 3.8 GHz all-core frequency with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology enabled.
With Intel® Deep Learning Boost, Google Cloud customers can take advantage of built-in AI acceleration. These technologies help customers’ AI applications to deliver results faster.
Google Cloud customers can accelerate their digital transformation with transparent access to the underlying Intel hardware, enabling them to fine-tune HPC workloads.
The Intel® architecture behind C2 instances can scale at will: they are available in 17 regions, and Google Cloud expects to add more regions soon. With access to instances that are geographically nearby, customers can count on low latency and regional support.
Customer Success Stories:
- Climacell provides minute-by-minute, hyper-local weather forecasts. The company is using C2 instances based on Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors with built-in AI acceleration for accurate weather prediction modeling and real-time insights. Climacell price/performance improved by 40 percent after migrating from N1 to C2 instances, enabling the company to increase efficiency and reduce costs to run machine- learning weather models2.
- Kinsta, a WordPress provider, upgraded from N1 instances to C2 instances. By doing so, web site load times and dashboard responsiveness improved by 30 percent to 200 percent, leading to great customer satisfaction and productivity3.
N2: A Flexible, Powerful Choice for Most Workloads
General-purpose workloads include databases, web applications, mobile gaming and dev/test environments.
You can maximize operational efficiency by helping Google Cloud customers configure an exact fit for every workload. N2 instances can have from two to 80 vCPUs with 640 GB of total memory (depending on the exact N2 machine type).
Compared to an N1 instance, Google Cloud customers can expect the following performance improvements with an Intel® hardware-powered N2 instance:
Upto 1.21x Better Database Performance4
Upto 1.51x Better Performance for Analytics5
20 Percent Better Price/Performance6
Accelerate Digital Transformation with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Solutions Optimized for Intel® Technology
Workloads such as image and video analysis, recommender systems, natural language processing (NLP) and other analytics applications benefit immensely from Intel technology available on N2 and C2 instances.
Google Cloud deep-learning virtual machines (VMs) and containers are optimized for 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors and configured to support common AI frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch out of the box. Customers do not have to waste time customizing or configuring these frameworks for optimal performance, enabling them to focus on the AI itself.
Datatonic recommends C2 instances based on 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors to perform research and development (R&D) for all ML pipelines based on their benchmarking. For AI inference, 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors are up to 59 percent faster and 14x less expensive7.
Optimized Software from Intel Can Help Google Cloud Customers Increase Operational Efficiency
- Software optimizations from Intel can help Google Cloud customers increase performance and achieve better operational efficiency.
- Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (Intel® AVX-512), an acceleration feature of Intel® Xeon® processors, is available on both C2 and N2 instances.
- Optimized application performance on Intel Xeon Scalable processors gives Google Cloud customers a performance advantage when they choose Intel technology-powered Google Cloud solutions.
- Descartes Labs used Intel compilers to optimize its global food supply analytics application for Intel AVX-512, running on Google Cloud. The optimizations lowered costs by 40 percent for certain use cases8
- Sony Imageworks takes advantage of Intel AVX-512 to optimize the firm’s OpenShadingLanguage (OSL) to speed up rendering, enabling artists to create content faster9.
Google Cloud and Intel Alliance: Drive Continual Innovation
Google and Intel’s close and long-standing relationship can help you provide better enterprise support, accelerate customer success and drive strong customer retention. Get in touch with your Intel account representative to access:
- Take advantage of the N2/C2 trial program through Intel-funded GCP credits, details located at: go/intel-compute-trial.
- Technical support from Intel’s engineers.
- Opportunities to work closely with system integrators (SIs) that are intimately familiar with Intel technology. Intel can help you connect with an SI that is the best fit for your customer.
- Assistance with proof of concepts (PoCs) to help align customers’ needs with the right combination of Intel technology.
- Marketing support for your customers’ PoCs to help develop compelling proof points and content that will help fuel sales and marketing efforts.
If you are interested in working with Intel to accelerate your sales cycle, contact your account team.
Take advantage of the N2 / C2 trial program through Intel-funded GCP credits, details located at: go/intel-compute-trial.
Notices and Disclaimers
Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.thailand.intel.com/PerformanceIndex.
Performance results are based on testing as of dates shown in configurations and may not reflect all publicly available updates. See backup for configuration details. No product or component can be absolutely secure.
Intel does not control or audit third-party data. You should consult other sources to evaluate accuracy.
Intel technologies may require enabled hardware, software or service activation.
Your costs and results may vary.
Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.