Google Cloud releases new global external passthrough Network Load Balancer

Google Cloud has unveiled a new global external passthrough Network Load Balancer, promising lower latency and seamless cross‑region failover for real‑time workloads.

Key Features of the Global Passthrough NLB

The updated load balancer operates at the edge of Google’s network, allowing traffic to be forwarded directly to backend instances without terminating the connection. This passthrough model preserves the client’s source IP, which is critical for applications that rely on IP‑based authentication or analytics.

Because the service is globally distributed, traffic can be routed to the nearest healthy backend across regions, reducing round‑trip times and improving resilience during regional outages.

Performance and Latency Benefits

Google’s infrastructure leverages its private fiber backbone, so the global NLB can deliver sub‑millisecond routing decisions. Early tests show latency improvements of up to 30% compared with traditional regional load balancers for latency‑sensitive protocols such as UDP and TCP‑based gaming traffic.

Integration with Existing Google Cloud Services

The new load balancer integrates natively with Cloud Armor for DDoS protection, Cloud Logging for observability, and Traffic Director for service mesh deployments. Customers can continue to use familiar APIs and Terraform modules, simplifying migration from older NLB versions.

• Global IP address allocation
• External passthrough mode preserving client IP
• Cross‑region health checks
• Automatic failover to the nearest healthy backend

The global external passthrough NLB is a game‑changer for real‑time services that cannot afford connection termination overhead.

Enterprises running multiplayer gaming, live video streaming, or IoT telemetry can now rely on a single load‑balancing endpoint that spans multiple continents, reducing operational complexity and cost.

Google Cloud release notes