Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink and Google Cloud are finally teaming up.
On Thursday, the tech behemoth announced a contract with SpaceX to provide cloud services. Under the terms of the agreement, SpaceX will install Starlink ground stations at Google data centers. Google Cloud will also provide the internet service with networking and computing support.
"Combining Starlink's high-speed, low-latency broadband with Google's infrastructure and capabilities provides global organizations with the secure and fast connection that modern organizations expect," Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president and chief operating officer, said in a statement uploaded on Google's blog.
"We are proud to work with Google to deliver this access to businesses, public sector organizations, and many other groups operating around the world," Shotwell added.
SpaceX-Google Partnership: Here's How It Works
Cell towers are unnecessary for SpaceX's Starlink. Customers' computers would now communicate with satellites, which will then link to Google data centers. Customers can use Google's cloud services to run applications quickly within those data centers, or they can transfer the information to other companies' geographically close services, allowing for low latency and limited lag. The data is then routed via Google data centers to satellites, and finally to end-users.
Sources told CNBC the contract between SpaceX and Google could last seven years.
Consumers living in areas with limited internet access and companies and government organizations working on projects in remote areas can find Starlink's service users. He believes that allowing Starlink to use Google's cloud network would encourage companies to install applications in Google's cloud to take advantage of the high speeds.
Starlink also collaborated with other cloud providers aside from Google.
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Microsoft announced in October that it was collaborating with SpaceX to introduce Starlink internet access to Azure cloud data centers that customers could deploy anywhere. According to a source familiar with the situation, SpaceX will continue to use Google data centers in that case. (Data will fly from the customer's Azure modular data center to Google's data center through the Starlink satellite, then out to other cloud providers - and back again.)
In the same CNBC report, a Microsoft spokesperson said that their new collaboration with SpaceX Starlink offers high-speed, low-latency satellite broadband. They're also expanding Azure capabilities with worldwide satellite connectivity and unblock cloud computing in more scenarios.
SpaceX will initially install the ground stations at Google data centers in the United States. Still, the company plans to grow globally, according to the source.
Starlink's Mission
SpaceX's Starlink project aims to bring high-speed internet to homes and companies that aren't wired for it worldwide. The company is also looking to target businesses. The Google deal will help it do so; Starlink has stated that it plans to provide internet service to businesses in the second half of 2021.
People and companies using the Starlink service will use cloud resources and software such as machine learning and analytics due to the collaboration.
Starlink is currently in beta testing with over 10,000 users. A report from 9to5 Mac claimed that Starlink had launched over 1,500 internet-providing satellites into orbit via Falcon 9. It expects to establish a network of over 40,000 satellites in the future.
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