Google Compute Engine

Google Compute Engine (GCE) is the Infrastructure as a Service component of Google Cloud, providing virtual machines that run on Google's global data center infrastructure. GCE differentiates itself from competitors through live migration — the ability to move running virtual machines between physical hosts without downtime — and custom machine types that allow customers to specify exact CPU and memory ratios rather than choosing from pre-defined instance families. The service sits at the bottom of Google Cloud's stack, beneath Google Kubernetes Engine and Google Cloud Run, and exemplifies the systems principle that deep vertical integration — from custom networking silicon to control plane software — can deliver reliability and performance that commodity layering cannot match. Yet GCE's market share remains a fraction of AWS's, suggesting that technical superiority does not automatically translate to market dominance when switching costs and ecosystem lock-in are high.