Google hires VMware co-founder to run cloud business

Google is taking a bigger leap into the cloud business, moving one of its board members, prominent Silicon Valley technologist and VMWare co-founder Diane Greene, into a new executive role.

Google plans to integrate Bebop throughout several of its core products, including Android, Chromebooks, Gmail and Docs as well as enterprise staples such as Cloud Platform and developer frameworks for mobile and corporate customers.

Google is buying Greene’s start-up Bebop Technologies that helps make it easier to build and maintain enterprise applications.

He said Greene will run a new integrated cloud businesses, that will combine Google for Work, Cloud Platform, and Google Apps with a new consolidated product, engineering, marketing and sales team that was missing before this, Pichai explained in the blog post. Cloud computing is revolutionizing the way people live and work, and there is no better person to lead this important area.

The move comes shortly after Google SVP Urs Hölze proclaimed (in remarks that may or may not have been blessed by Google’s brass) the company’s Cloud Platform revenue could surpass its ad revenue in five years.

While Google clearly has the cloud chops to compete strongly with Microsoft, Amazon and others, what it has been lacking up until today is leadership with a clear understanding of the enterprise. Microsoft is also looking to ramp up its cloud computing business.

“Only a tiny fraction of the world’s data is now in the cloud – most businesses and applications aren’t cloud-based yet”, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said in the blog post.

Pichai has said selling cloud storage space to enterprises was a growing priority for the company. The entire bebop team will join Google as part of the acquisition.