Google has added the ability to run App Engine applications on a cluster located in Europe, in order to improve performance for local users, the company said at the Google I/O developer conference.
App Engine is Google's cloud-based platform for hosting web applications that have been written using Java or Python.
Hosting an application in Europe is especially useful if the application's users are closer to Europe than the US There is less network latency and the content will be stored in the EU, according to Google.
Initially, the Google App Engine cluster in Europe will be limited to Premier accounts only. Premier accounts cost $500 per month, and include a 99.95% uptime guarantee, better support and the ability to create an unlimited number of apps on one's premier account domain, according to Google.
The addition of a cluster in Europe wasn't the only App Engine improvement Google announced.
Version 1.7 of the platform also includes support for SSL on custom domains using either virtual IP addresses or Server Name Indication (SNI), which allows multiple domains to share the same IP address while still allowing a separate certificate for each one, according to Google.
SNI is priced at $9 per month and includes 5 certificates, while a virtual IP address costs $99 per month.
Google has also increased the application size limit from 150MB to 1GB and published an experimental SDK for Windows for the Go runtime.
IDG News Service