New Options, New Flexibility for Nutanix on Google Cloud: Announcing More Choices
By Mat Brown
Today, we’re thrilled to offer customers more choices with several enhancements to Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) on Google Cloud. In addition to introducing support for Google Cloud C3 bare metal nodes—providing a more flexible and cost-efficient entry point—we will also be expanding availability to 5 new regions and introducing Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST) capabilities for Google Cloud Storage. Together, these advancements give customers more deployment options, stronger resilience, and the ability to scale their hybrid cloud environment with greater flexibility.
Here is why this matters for your hybrid cloud strategy.
Continued Innovation with Google Cloud
Google Cloud C3 bare metal nodes offer a flexible, more cost-effective entry point to get started with Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) on Google Cloud. This isn't just "another server option"—it represents a significant engineering milestone and a fundamental shift in how we deliver storage for NC2 on Google Cloud. Unlike the existing bare metal node types that relied solely on local NVMe SSDs, the C3 bare metal nodes are diskless making the addition of C3 to the NC2 catalogue special.
Figure: A high-level overview of the storage configurations of the NC2 compatible Google Cloud Compute Engine bare metal instances.
To make this work, Nutanix engineering teams worked to validate Google Cloud Hyperdisk as the primary storage tier for NC2. This innovation allows them to decouple compute from storage performance, leveraging Google’s next-generation block storage architecture to deliver the resilience and performance you expect from Nutanix AOS, without physically attached drives. What this opens up is more possibilities for a range of use cases.
Lower Entry Point, Optimized TCO
The C3 node, in its various memory configurations, changes the math. While the Z3 and C4 nodes are fantastic for high end databases and large VDI environments, they can be overkill for less intensive, more general-purpose workloads, or smaller DR sites. To give customers more flexibility, the C3 node introduces a more cost-optimized option that offers the following:
Lower Upfront Cost: By utilizing a diskless compute node, we’ve significantly reduced the hourly burn rate for the compute layer.
Right-Sized Storage: You can deploy nodes with the storage configuration your workload requires— from 15TB up to 120TB per node.
Flexible Scaling: This decoupling means you can optimize your TCO by aligning your infrastructure spend much closer to your actual consumption.
The Tech Specs: What’s Under the Hood?
The three compatible C3 bare metal instances are built for general-purpose computing:
Compute: 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors (Sapphire Rapids) with 96 physical cores.
Memory: Options for 512GB, 768GB, or 1.5TB of DDR5 RAM.
Storage: Google Cloud Hyperdisk Balanced. This is attached over the network but presented to the Nutanix AOS stack as local NVMe, giving you flexible performance and capacity.
Networking: Up to 200 Gbps networking to handle both your east-west traffic and that crucial storage I/O.
More Options for Customers
This announcement gives customers more choice to right-size infrastructure for different workloads - optimizing cost, performance, and scalability.
C3 Series: For general-purpose virtualization, VDI, and modernization projects where flexibility and cost-efficiency are key. Utilizes Hyperdisk for workload storage instead of local NVMe.
Z3 Series: For your storage-dense, I/O-heavy databases and analytics workloads with 72TB of local storage.
C4 Series: The general-purpose powerhouse featuring the latest Intel® Xeon® 6 (Granite Rapids) processors and 18TB of local NVMe storage.
Expanding Worldwide Availability
At general availability, NC2 on Google Cloud launched across 17 regions. The second quarter of 2026 will see the number of supported regions rise up to 22, adding 5 new regions, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Mumbai, Sydney and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Figure: NC2 on Google Cloud will soon be available across 22 regions globally.
This global support means that Nutanix clusters can be deployed around the world in a matter of hours. Whether it's to expand into a new region, or circumvent industry supply chain constraints, Nutanix customers can now take advantage of up to 6 different Google Cloud bare metal instances to build their hybrid cloud environments.
Mutlicloud Snapshot Technology
In addition to these new node baremetal instances and the new regions for NC2 in Google Cloud, the recent Prism Central 7.5.1 release also includes utilising Google’s S3 compatible object storage “Cloud Storage” with Nutanix Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST). This provides another option for the storing Nutanix snapshots in low cost object storage.
Figure: Nutanix Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST) can be used with a variety of low cost S3 compatible object storage technologies such as Nutanix Objects and Google Cloud Storage
IT teams can use this technology to build low cost Disaster Recovery (DR) solutions or to augment existing solutions with additional layers of protection. This can be a particularly effective approach when combining MST with NC2 for “Zero Compute” or “Pilot Light” DR solutions. But it can also be used with Nutanix Disaster Recovery (NDR) multi-site capabilities to provide a low cost, additional recovery position that may satisfy compliance requirements for recovery or reversibility.
Ready to Get Started?
Whether you are migrating and modernizing legacy apps, setting up a cost-efficient disaster recovery site, or bursting for seasonal demand, you now have a selection of node types to fit your requirements.
The C3 bare metal nodes are available now. If you’ve been waiting for a more accessible entry point to bring the Nutanix Cloud Platform to Google Cloud, this is it.
Click here to learn more about NC2 on Google Cloud or click here for a free trial to experience the simplicity of NC2 on Google Cloud for yourself.
Are you attending Google Cloud Next? Come join us at booth #6102 or click here to arrange a briefing.
©2026 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved. Nutanix, the Nutanix logo and all Nutanix product and service names mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names mentioned are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s). This content may contain express and implied forward-looking statements, including related to addition of new Google Cloud regions, which are not historical facts and are instead based on our current expectations, estimates, and beliefs. The accuracy of such statements involves risks and uncertainties and depends upon future events, including those that may be beyond our control, and actual results may differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by such statements. Any forward-looking statements included speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update or otherwise revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
