A few months ago, Google Cloud Cebu launched C4A as virtual machine (VM) instances run on Axion, the first Arm-based CPU. Now, as the next step in this work, it debuts in C4A with Titanium SSDs — custom-designed local disks aimed at improving storage and performance.

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

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

What to expect from Google’s C4A VM with Titanium SSDs?

C4A instances in Google Cloud usually have three storage options: Persistent Disk, Hyperdisk or Local SSD. Persistent Disk is the standard block storage service where performance is shared between volumes of the same type. Hyperdisk, on the other hand, provides dedicated performance, supporting up to 350,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) and 5 GB/s throughput per volume — providing better performance than Persistent Disk.

However, in some workloads, especially those that demand local storage capacity, even Hyperdisk can struggle. This is where local SSDs come in, with Titanium SSDs being the latest innovation in the category.

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

Titanium SSDs, which are attached directly to the computing cases inside the host server, offload storage and networking tasks from the CPU, freeing up resources to improve application security and throughput performance. . This innovation comes from Google’s Titanium system. It enables offloading work from the host CPU to a system of custom silicon, hardware and software on-host and across the company. data centersconnected to the host CPU using the Titanium Offload Processor.

The configuration offered

At its core, the new C4A family with Titanium SSDs has up to 72 vCPUs, 576 GB of memory, and 6 TB of local storage. Enterprises can choose between Standard (4 GB/vCPU) and High-memory (8 GB/vCPU) configurations. Connection options, on the other hand, can go 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, data analytics engines and search. In addition, it can be used in applications that require in-memory caching, media streaming and transcoding and CPU-based AI/ML.

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

Early adopters have noticed 40% higher throughput

While C4A VMs with Titanium SSDs have only recently become widely available, some early adopters are already seeing performance gains from them. These include big names like Couchbase and Elastic.

Matt McDonough, SVP of product and partners at Couchbase, highlighted how Capella Columnar, running on Google Axion C4A instances with Titanium SSDs, delivers unmatched performance benefits at the price, ultra-low latency and scalable compute power for analytic and operational workloads. Similarly, Elastic’s Uri Cohen said the company has observed 40% higher throughput than previous VM generations.

C4A VMs with Titanium SSDs are already generally available in key regions, including the US, Europe and Asia, with plans to expand further. Customers can access it through on-demand, Spot VMs and discount pricing options.

With significant improvements in performance, energy efficiency and scalability, C4A VMs with Titanium SSDs serve modern business needs, setting a new benchmark for cloud workloads.