AtlasOS
Our operating system for professional services firms runs on Next.js and React, PostgreSQL on Google Cloud SQL, Firebase Authentication, Firebase App Hosting and Cloud Scheduler, with tenant isolation at database level.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services, designed, built and managed
Google Cloud, also called Google Cloud Platform or GCP, is Google's public cloud: computing, storage, databases, analytics and AI, paid for by use and available from a Johannesburg region. Arke Technologies (Pty) Ltd, in Johannesburg, designs, migrates, secures and manages Google Cloud for mid-sized and large organisations, public bodies and schools across South Africa.
Google Cloud in South Africa: the Johannesburg region
Google Cloud has run a region in Johannesburg, africa-south1, since January 2024, with three zones (Google Cloud, September 2026). Not every product is offered there, so we check each service against the region before designing around it.
Behind the region are the servers of Google itself: Google designs its own servers and network, and says Google Cloud runs on the same infrastructure as Search, Gmail and YouTube. Under the shared-responsibility model, Google secures the data centres and hardware; identities, network rules and data inside your projects are yours, and ours when we manage them.
POPIA section 72 governs sending personal information outside South Africa, and section 19 requires reasonable security safeguards. We keep personal information in the Johannesburg region unless you decide otherwise, encrypt it and record where every copy lives; see POPIA compliance.
Google Cloud solutions we build
We build our own systems on Google Cloud, and AtlasOS runs on it in production, so our designs, runbooks and cost models come from a platform we operate ourselves.
ISOcore
An ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 management platform for documentation, non-conformances, corrective actions and audits, built with Next.js on Cloud SQL.
Gemini on Vertex AI
We build with Gemini through Vertex AI, choosing the model for each job, with guardrails, logging and cost controls, and never train models on client data without explicit consent.
Security and operations on Google Cloud
Identity. Cloud Identity, Google Workspace or Entra ID federation; access granted to groups, multi-factor sign-in, least-privilege IAM roles and no downloaded service-account keys.- Guardrails. Organisation policies that block public buckets, external IP addresses and resources outside approved regions.
- Network. Private VPCs, firewall rules, Private Service Connect, Cloud Armor in front of public applications and Cloud VPN to your offices.
- Encryption. Google encrypts data at rest by default; Cloud KMS customer-managed keys where your policy requires them.
- Administration. The gcloud command-line tool and Google Cloud Shell, with every change made as code under change control. Google's samples in the GoogleCloudPlatform repositories on GitHub are a starting point, never a production design.
- Monitoring. Cloud Monitoring alerts, plus our own monitoring, which checks each server every 15 minutes and logs faults as tickets automatically, prioritised P1 to P4 under your SLA.
- Assurance. Penetration testing within Google's acceptable use policy; see cybersecurity services.
Google Cloud pricing: what drives the bill
Last reviewed: September 2026.
Google Cloud pricing is pay-as-you-go, and Google publishes its price list in US dollars, so the exchange rate moves your bill in rand. Google Cloud platform pricing depends on:
- Compute: machine type and hours, billed per second after the first minute. Sustained-use discounts apply automatically on some machine families, committed-use discounts reward one- or three-year commitments, and Spot VMs cost less for work that can be interrupted.
- Storage: Google Cloud storage pricing is per gigabyte per month, by class and region, plus operations, retrieval and early-deletion fees on colder classes; operations and data leaving the platform often cost as much as the gigabytes stored.
- Network: data sent to the internet or between regions is charged; incoming data is free.
- Databases, licences and support: instance size and any high-availability standby; Windows Server and SQL Server licence charges; Google's own support plans.
Google's pricing calculator estimates consumption before you commit, and budgets send alerts but do not stop spending. We quote a migration as a project and management under your SLA, after an assessment, and publish no hourly rates. Cloud cost optimisation keeps spend in check afterwards.
Google Cloud, Google Workspace and Google Photos are not the same
Google Cloud is Google's platform for building and running systems. Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Meet and Docs) is its productivity suite, licensed per user; we supply, migrate and manage it through our Google Workspace service. People looking for "my Google Cloud", or their photos on Google Cloud, usually mean the personal storage behind Google Photos and Drive. Keep organisational records in shared drives or buckets you own, so they survive a resignation and fall under your retention policy. Old names confuse too: Google Cloud Messaging is now Firebase Cloud Messaging.
Choosing a Google Cloud provider: partner status and GCP certifications
Google sells Google Cloud directly, and runs Partner Advantage, its programme for firms that resell and deliver its services. Partner status tells you a firm met Google's programme requirements; it does not tell you who will run your environment. Whoever you appoint, us included, ask:
- Who does the work, and what do they hold? GCP certifications belong to people, not companies: Cloud Digital Leader, Associate Cloud Engineer, and professional ones such as Professional Cloud Architect. We hire for experience, education and certifications.
- Whose name is on the organisation, billing account and projects? It should be yours.
- How would you leave? A move to Microsoft Azure, AWS, private cloud or colocation should need only the documentation you already hold.
Governance, compliance, procurement and continuity
- Governance: one SLA, with incidents prioritised P1 (critical outage) to P4 (low-impact request) and response and resolution targets agreed to your business impact; a monthly service review and report; documented escalation paths; logged, approved changes; ITIL-aligned practice.
- Compliance: POPIA addressed through Johannesburg data residency, encryption and access logs; controls aligned with ISO/IEC 27001 and the CIS Controls; King IV Principle 12 and PFMA or MFMA reporting supported by architecture, change and access records kept ready for audit. See King IV and technology governance.
- Procurement: Level 1 B-BBEE contributor, which gives buyers 135% procurement recognition (sworn affidavit available on request); CSD number, SARS tax compliance status and company documents available on request; SBD forms completed where a bid requires them. Buy through a proposal and SLA, against your purchase order or in response to a tender. See procuring from Arke.
- Continuity: the organisation, projects, data and credentials are yours; we work through individual, logged accounts, every remote session is approved and logged, and everyone with access is bound by confidentiality. We document as we go, new projects join the SLA as you grow, and exit terms are written in from day one.