Google Cloud Platform is kicking business butt, says Google. SVP Diane Greene is pleased to announce new marquee customers and new cloud features.
But Google is a long way behind it's two main competitors: Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. Watch this space to see how Greene will persuade businesses to deploy on GCP.
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers virtualize and containerize. Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment.
What’s the craic? Jack Clark marks DG's card—Google's Greene Hastens Cloud Expansion:
Google’s new cloud chief Diane Greene had unsettling news [at a] sales meeting this month. ... They weren’t taking corporate customers seriously...and needed to sell harder. ... Google is third in cloud computing...a $20 billion-a-year business forecast to grow 35 percent over the next year.
…
Google hired Greene to change that. She’s a Silicon Valley legend who co-founded VMware Inc. in 1998. ... When she was fired in 2008...the company lost almost a quarter of its value in a day.
…
Google...is working on tools that can broaden its corporate user base to include less technically savvy customers. [And] by quadrupling its digital reach, the company can serve more businesses faster while conforming to local regulations.
…
Google is also providing more support to [partners] that build products that work with its cloud. ... Greene is also tapping her VMware Rolodex.
Sounds challenging. Cade Metz met her too: [You're fired -Ed.]
As the Internet giant best known for search begins a two-day conference...dedicated to its cloud computing business, it’s faced with the reality that...for Amazon, it’s now a $9.6 billion-a-year business [while] Google’s cloud business pulls in closer to $500 million. ... Forrester predicts the cloud market will exceed $191 billion by 2020, but...Google isn’t a [B2B] company.
…
Greene assumed her new role at Google only about 90 days ago, but she has already started to transform the company. [And] Google will draw on the work of BeBop, a startup that Greene and [husband] Rosenblum were building.
So where are all these business customers? Run, Conner Forrest, run—Google...signs up Disney and others:
Diane Greene made her pitch to CIOs. ... Google Cloud Platform has been growing...and competing with AWS and Microsoft Azure. ... At the 2016 Google Cloud Platform Next conference...Google announced that Disney Consumer Products Interactive Media and Coca Cola [are] the newest Google Cloud Platform customers.
…
The news comes only a few months after Google netted big deals with both Spotify and Apple. ... Greene's experience dealing with corporate clients is the type of...clout that Google needs.
Is the writing on the wall for traditional, on-premises data centers? Tiernan Ray guns the story—Cisco Should Be Concerned:
Rod Hall with J.P. Morgan today reflects on the...large new customer wins. ... Writes Hall, "We see this...as likely to accelerate the overall move to...public cloud by businesses. [But] this is one of the primary drivers of data center infrastructure commoditization...which we believe is ultimately negative for Cisco and other data center infrastructure...companies."
…
Google confirmed signing up Disney...as a client. Other customer wins include Best Buy and Macy’s.
But it's not all about Greene. Ron Miller crunches the tech—Google Stackdriver helps IT get unified view:
Today at the GCPNext16 event in San Francisco, Google announced...Google StackDriver...a unified tool for monitoring, alerting, incidents management and logging. ... The logging capabilities let you search across your EC2 and AWS clusters from a single interface. [It] sends error reports...completely customizable, that alert users when there are issues.
…
Google is...trying to differentiate itself from the competition. ... It’s also playing to its strengths as an engineering company [with] tools like-minded folks need.
And it's also about Schmidt, natch. Matt Weinberger heard him claim that Google's cloud is the culmination of his epic career:
During his stint at Sun...Schmidt says, the company worked hard on the concept of "the network computer." ... Schmidt was actually the Sun executive who got to announce...Java.
…
It was a good start, Schmidt says. But...Google invested heavily in developing an "Internet operating system" for...data centers. [And] in 2008, Google opened up its AppEngine cloud service.
…
But now, he says, "it didn't work. ... There's something fundamentally wrong with what we were doing in 2008." ... It was less [than] great for enterprise customers with existing applications. ... [So] rather than forcing developers to build apps the Google way...Google Cloud Platform helps them manage the Linux-based virtual machines they're already using.
You have been reading IT Blogwatch by Richi Jennings, who curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites… so you don’t have to. Catch the key commentary from around the Web every morning. Hatemail may be directed to @RiCHi or itbw@richi.uk. 
Opinions expressed may not represent those of Computerworld. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE.