Angeline Leishman
Google has launched a new cloud-based sandbox environment in an effort to help government agencies, laboratories and academic institutions advance research, development and prototyping of tools for both beginner and experienced users.
The RAD Lab is designed to provide a virtual space where teams can experiment and create cloud environments without the risk of affecting existing infrastructure, Google said Wednesday.
The open-source and regulatory compliant RAD Lab features common information technology governance, logging and access controls; compatibility with various analytics tools and notebook templates; and best-practice operations guidance.
Among many RAD Lab clients is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which uses the cloud environment to verify concepts and prototype tools in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and other areas.
“RAD Lab allows our staff—from technical specialists to economists and business experts—to build, test, and validate new cloud solutions to meet critical agency needs,” said Jamie Holcombe, chief information officer at USPTO.
Public sector and academic organizations can avail the cloud offering through a predicable subscription model together with optional onboarding workshops from Google Cloud.
