Google announces Cloud Memorystore for Redis leaves beta, vulnerability scanning for Container Registry, partnership with NEC Corp. to expand GCP in Japan
Google LLC is taking the opportunity to beef up its Google Cloud Platform as it visits Japan for its Cloud Next Tokyo '18 conference.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google is using its Cloud Next Tokyo '18 stage to close three gaps at once: a managed Redis cache reaching general availability, automated vulnerability scanning inside Container Registry, and a go-to-market partner in NEC Corp. for Japan. The security piece extends a line Google has been building since it added a beta encryption key management service to GCP in early 2017 and rolled out DDoS protections and transparency dashboards the following March.
The Memorystore announcement also foreshadows a pattern that hardened a year later, when Google struck fully managed service deals with seven open-source projects including Redis Labs itself — turning databases it once merely hosted into first-party revenue lines.
First-order effects
- Japanese enterprises gain a local route onto GCP through NEC Corp., removing the direct-sales dependency that has kept Google third behind AWS and Azure in enterprise accounts.
- Teams running self-managed Redis on VMs can now shift to a Google-operated Memorystore, while developers pushing containers get image scanning without bolting on a third-party scanner.
Second-order effects
- NEC becomes a channel competitor to the global systems integrators that resell AWS and Azure in Japan, and rival clouds face pressure to deepen their own local integrator ties rather than rely on direct sales.
- Vulnerability scanning baked into Container Registry raises the baseline for registry features, forcing competing registries to match built-in scanning or cede security-conscious workloads.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, hyperscalers keep converting popular open-source infrastructure like Redis into paid managed services — the dynamic that led to the 2019 Redis Labs partnership and continues to shape how database vendors and cloud platforms split the value.
- Regional expansion via national champions like NEC points toward cloud competition being settled market-by-market through local partnerships, not just global data-center buildouts.
The trend: Cloud platforms are bundling managed versions of open-source data services with built-in security tooling and local integrator partnerships to convert developer adoption into enterprise revenue.