BigQuery just got better for cross-cloud querying

Google Cloud added cross-cloud connections in BigQuery, giving teams a more cost-efficient way to query AWS, Azure, and Salesforce Data 360 than BigQuery Omni.

Google Cloud also updated the BigQuery JDBC driver with OpenTelemetry support in GA. That adds tracing and logging for better visibility.

Cloud Monitoring now accepts OTLP metrics through the Telemetry API

Google Cloud made the Cloud Monitoring Telemetry API generally available, so teams can ingest OTLP metrics through OpenTelemetry Collectors.

That makes it easier to centralize observability in Cloud Monitoring. It also helps teams correlate metrics for cost and performance optimization.

Looker now shows better observability for conversational analytics

Google Cloud added enhanced observability metrics in Looker for Conversational Analytics in Preview.

The new metrics include engagement data and projected token usage. That gives teams more visibility into AI-driven analytics behavior.

Cloud SQL backup changes are now easier to manage

Google Cloud updated Cloud SQL so you can change an instance’s associated enhanced backup plan without removing the current plan first.

That removes an extra operational step. It also helps avoid manual workarounds that could add effort and cost.

Cloud SQL for MySQL performance capture is now GA

Google Cloud brought Cloud SQL for MySQL performance capture to GA, adding point-in-time snapshots of database and OS metrics.

The snapshots route to Cloud Logging and can use custom thresholds and triggers, including ending long-running transactions. That gives teams more detail when they need to diagnose problems.