What configuration should a company choose for their Cloud Spanner instance to minimize read latency for global users?

To minimize read latency for global users, creating a multi-regional Cloud Spanner instance with a "nam-asia-eur1" configuration is optimal. This configuration specifically allocates resource locations across multiple regions in different major geographical areas, which reduces the physical distance between the data and users located in regions like North America, Asia, and Europe.

This multi-regional setup ensures that user requests can be served from the nearest available replica, significantly decreasing latency as data can be accessed from a location that is geographically closer to the user. With global applications where users are spread across various regions, this configuration allows for better responsiveness and ensures that read operations can be handled more efficiently by directing users to the appropriate regional endpoint.

By leveraging multiple regions, the system can also achieve higher availability and fault tolerance, which is essential for global applications that require a robust and responsive database.

In contrast, a single-regional instance may serve data efficiently within a specific geographical area but could introduce higher latency for users located further away. Similarly, a multi-regional instance with a configuration that doesn't optimize the location for global user distribution would not perform as effectively in minimizing read latency. A standard regional instance across all traffic lacks the ability to optimize access for global users, which can degrade