Google Behind in Cloud Plays
August 27, 2009
I am sitting in my government influenced hotel room in Washington, DC. I don’t have access to my research material. I do remember analyzing an invention disclosed by Google sometime in 2004 or 2005 that offered some interesting functions. A client could use a computer running some Google software could hook into the Google infrastructure to perform some work. I am going to refresh my memory when I return to the saner world of the goose pond in rural Kentucky.
In the meantime, two news items caused me to wonder, “Has Google fallen further behind in the race to cloud computing?” Let me highlight the two news items and then capture the tickle at the back of my addled goose brain.
First, the world’s smartest man has engineered another cloud move that seems to leave Google flat pawed. Amazon has announced a veepeesee in its Web log. You can dig into some of the details in “Introducing Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)”. As I understand the announcement, Amazon wants to make its multiple cloud services enterprise satisfying. That translates to control. This development reminds me of some Google technology.
Source: Amazon.com
What I find interesting is that Amazon seems to be in the mind space of Google. And more importantly, Amazon seems able to move more quickly than the Google. Speed and agility are often important in the high stakes world which Amazon inhabits. Has Google become to large and burdened to move like a lithe Amazonian?
Second, Salesforce.com has announced a reseller program. You will want to read “Deals & More” by Anthony Ha in Venture Beat. The announcement reminded me that Salesforce.com, a company that Google has supported with some cheerleading, now seems to be moving on its own trajectory. I thought that a tie up between Google and Salesforce.com might have had some charm a couple of years ago. Now I have a working hypothesis that Google perceives a different view of the future. Salesforce.com was among the first companies to get traction with cloud services for the enterprise. I ask myself, “What does Google see as its future in cloud centric enterprise services?” The reseller deal seems to put Salesforce.com at an acute angle with regard to Google. Does Google “get” the Salesforce.com model? How many cloud resellers will want to jump on the Salesforce.com bandwagon? Will some Google partners jump ship? No answers from the addled goose at this time.
Is Salesforce.com becoming the shadow warrior in sales as Amazon has become a ninja in cloud computing technology?
One can interpret these two events in several ways:
- Amazon and Salesforce.com are uninterested in Google. Each company moves independently of Google. Each is doing quite well as Google disrupts other business sectors. In short, Google has no material impact on either of these firms.
- Amazon and Salesforce.com have figured out that each can move more quickly than the sluggish Google. The telcos might see Google as a race car but Amazon and Salesforce.com have found ways to move more quickly than Google, thus neutralizing Google’s potential in certain “spaces”.
- Amazon and Salesforce.com are working in the “here and now”. Google either operates in another space time dimension or perceives the “here and now” markets as uninteresting. If this is accurate, the question becomes, “What is Google’s broader play in the cloud market?”
The addled goose has no answers. Just questions.
Stephen Arnold, August 27, 2009
Comments
9 Responses to “Google Behind in Cloud Plays”
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Hi Steve,
Perhaps it’s just because Google is getting more boulders ready to push down off the mountain top (as you described at the NFAIS meeting). I suspect that they are working on a wider field of play than either Amazon or Salesforce. So maybe they are just letting others move ahead in certain areas of the game knowing they have the capacity to catch up when the time is right.
As to other areas of Google activity: Have you taken a look at last week’s announcement for PLoS Currents: Influenza? It’s running on Google’s knol platform. And because it is a topic where speed of communication really matters, they might actually succeed in changing some long-standing publishing behaviors. I’d be interested in your take on this one. One week out and they already have a noteworthy number of contributions and views.
Maureen
Maureen C. Kelly,
I don’t know too much about Google. I am an addled goose. True, I have written three monographs about Google and do a Google-centric column for KMWorld, but I need continual inputs and guidance from blog readers. My Overflight Google service is not very good, and I am unqualified to keep pace with the loftier activities of Googzilla. Also, I like the use of the word “noteworthy”. It is almost Googley.
Stephen Arnold, August 27, 2009
[…] minimum, increased privacy would address concerns expressed in enterprise use of cloud services. A related post criticizing Google’s lethargy in cloud services suggests Amazon may be a greater competitor […]
I’m convinced that any company to have success, either after already having it and loosing behind in the race or just barely trying to get up to pace with the “big dogs”, has to have something unique to their product or service. It sounds like the debate is if salesforce is spreading it’s wings to fly solo or not. Google, to gain back what it has lost has to have something new and fresh to offer inside it’s own industry
[…] related post criticizing Google’s lethargy in cloud services suggests Amazon may be a greater competitor than Google currently […]
[…] increased privacy would address concerns expressed in enterprise use of cloud services. A related post criticizing Google’s lethargy in cloud services suggests Amazon may be a greater competitor than Google currently […]
[…] increased privacy would address concerns expressed in enterprise use of cloud services. A related post criticizing Google’s lethargy in cloud services suggests Amazon may be a greater competitor than Google currently […]
[…] related post criticizing Google’s lethargy in cloud services suggests Amazon may be a greater competitor than Google currently […]
[…] related post criticizing Google’s lethargy in cloud services suggests Amazon may be a greater competitor than Google currently […]