Google Intros Faster/Cheaper VM Data Transfers

A new "Snapshots" feature for Google Compute Engine Persistent Disks that can be used for quickly transferring data between VMs.

Google said this method of moving large amounts of data between virtual machines runs at up to 8x the speed of scp.

It costs 2.6 cents/GB/month for taking a Persistent Disk snapshot.  However, Google notes that the actual average cost comes out to about $0.003 per 500GB of data transferred because the snapshot used for transfer purpose is short lived (under 10min) and its pricing is prorated based on a granularity of seconds. "That means for less than a penny you can move a terabyte of data at 8x the speed of traditional tools."

http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/2015/05/Move-your-big-data-lightning-fast-and-at-a-low-cost.html