Google snaps up VMware hybrid cloud specialist CloudSimple

CloudSimple turns from partner to part of Alphabet’s sprawling software portfolio

Google has announced plans to acquire Californian-based software firm CloudSimple for an undisclosed fee, as it steps up efforts to win the business of hybrid cloud-hungry enterprises.

CloudSimple’s solutions help companies with cloud migration, disaster recovery and virtual desktop services. The purchase will help Google as it seeks to make ground on cloud rivals, Microsoft Azure and Amazon’s AWS, by simplifying migration to Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Azure’s and GCP’s shares of the $27.5 billion global cloud market are 16.9 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively. AWS still reigns supreme with 32.6 percent market share.

Importantly, CloudSimple specialises in VMware virtualisation software, still utilised by most large enterprises. Incorporating CloudSimple’s software into GCP will appeal to those companies looking to leverage hybrid IT without giving up a tried and trusted tool.

All of the three leading cloud providers have partnered with VMware to bring its workloads to their clouds. Google announced its own partnership in July, which is undergirded by CloudSimple’s tech.

“This acquisition builds on our existing partnership with CloudSimple that we announced earlier this year, allowing us to accelerate a fully integrated VMware migration solution with improved support for our customers,” Rich Sanzi, VP Engineering at Google Cloud wrote in a blog post.

“Through our existing partnership with CloudSimple, our customers can migrate their VMware workloads from on-premises datacenters directly into Google Cloud VMware Solution by CloudSimple, while also creating new VMware workloads as needed,” he added.

Google has been subject to US regulatory inquiries over competition concerns, which include investigations into the company’s numerous large acquisitions.

When it comes to cloud-based acquistions, Google does have a point when it says it has a small market share. US antitrust officials recently cleared Google’s $2.6 billion takeover of analytics firm Looker.