Google sees a 60% surge in Hangouts amid COVID -19 outbreak 

A silver light in the dark cloud is that amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Google Hangouts Meet wins 60% rise. 

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian revealed an increase of over 25 times in daily usage of Google Hangouts Meet as compared to in January amid coronavirus.  Launched in 2017, Meet is Google's video conferencing platform and Kurian said this rate of surge in its use was never witnessed before. Over the last few weeks, Google Meet's day-over-day growth has exceeded 60%.  Kurian wrote in a blog post, with daily usage now 25X higher than it was in January,

"Despite this growth, the demand has been well within the bounds of our network's ability," Kurian wrote.

Like a number of other businesses that offer communication and collaboration tools, Google some weeks ago started rolling out free access to its teleconferencing tools in response to the global crisis. A few weeks ago, the company made the advanced features in Google Meet free to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally. It also made Meet Hardware available in additional markets, including South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia and South Africa.

Meanwhile, Google Cloud is providing other kinds of tools and support for workers and organizations adjusting their operations in response to the pandemic. For instance, it's offering access to its portfolio of Google Cloud learning resources, including a catalog of training courses, hands-on labs on Qwiklabs and interactive Cloud OnAir webinars at no cost until April 30.

Google Cloud also has remote customer service agents ready to help customers, as well as enhanced support protocol for peak periods.