VMware to Offer Google Cloud Services

   By Angela Chen 
 

VMware Inc. (VMW) will soon offer Google Cloud products as part of its vCloud Air service, as the tech company continues to expand its "hybrid cloud" business.

Palo-Alto based VMware is a pioneer in virtualization, a technology that substitutes hardware with software and drives down IT costs.

In March 2013, VMware said it would enter the cloud-computing market and start running customer applications through vCloud Air, a VMware-managed online cloud service. This hybrid cloud feature was meant to target software customers who wanted both in-house computing capability and external resources in the public cloud. It was widely seen as a response to competitors like Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) Web Services.

Under the partnership, the first with an outside company, vCloud Air customers can buy access to various Google Cloud services, including cloud storage and BigQuery, a big-data analytics service. Google, meanwhile, will have access to customers who favor the hybrid-cloud approach.

The Google products are expected to be available in the first half of the year, and pricing has not been yet.

The companies are also considering integrating the Google Cloud platform to be part of VMware's Cloud Management Suite.

VMware is majority owned by EMC Corp (EMC), which has been pressured by Elliott Management Corp. to spin off its remaining stake in VMware and pursue other strategic opportunities. Earlier Thursday, EMC posted a 12% rise in profits on strong demand for data storage.

In its most recent quarter, VMware's profit fell slightly, as double-digit revenue increase were offset by higher costs associated with its stock-compensation program.

Shares of VMware have been down about 20% in the past 12 months through Wednesday's close.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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