Google to join the Cloud Crowd

The cloud is already getting a bit crowded – enterprise productivity applications are fighting it out for a place in the heady heights. In response to the competition, Google has flung open the doors of its Apps productivity suite to over 60 Google services – thus giving customers the opportunity to connect with tools including Google Voice, Reader and AdWords.

Google discussed the opening up of the suite in a blog post. “…you could equip your marketing team with Picasa Web Albums so they can collect and share photos from customer appreciation events, and let that team publish your company's blog with Blogger."

The mix and match of applications and user groups will, in Google’s own words, “empower workers in remarkable new ways.”

The market place for enterprise productivity applications is a popular one – from web-based rivals to the heavy weights of IBM and Microsoft – they are all serving up cloud-based products. Hence, Google is keen to make itself ubiquitous.

Google Apps for Business package is going to be available to enterprise users; and government agencies as well as places of education are being offered tailored deals.

The competition is only going to hot up over the next two years with more and more technological advances, as Melissa Webster, vice president at IDC says. "It is going to be a feature-function platform shootout." The wild, wild west is rising to a whole new level.