The Technology Life

Microsoft has very limited capability to offer a cloud-based email environment. Most of the offerings it provides are locally installed, single-hosting services. Concerns will wane about cloud security. The ability to offer a cloud-based email environment for easy access will be the norm, not the exception. But even though Google has a jump, Microsoft will have its own offering. In the meantime, Google has an opportunity to make another leap into the enterprise.

This does represent a tipping point for many companies shedding IT assets. The question about email often comes up when companies consider moving to the cloud. It's an important part of the migration. In recent weeks, we have seen how email is becoming a foundation for the evolution of a web oriented, social enterprise. Google Apps Marketplace offers the capability to offer third party applications that integrate with Google Apps. Email is a critical part of the equation in this Google ecosystem. It provides a backbone for companies to connect its employees with Google Apps and the associated third-parties.

The process to migrate looks relatively simple. Through Google Apps, a customer enters their Microsoft Exchange user name and what it calls "two-legged OAuth," consisting of a consumer user key and a consumer "secret". They then upload a .CSV file consisting of the email adresses, calendar and contact information. It is optional what to migrate. For example, an IT administrator may upload email addresses and contact data but not the calendar. Email service does not get interrupted during the migration.

This is a compelling offering for companies moving to the cloud. But it's only part of the equation. Google still needs to prove it is robust enough for the enterprise to migrate to Google Apps. In the meantime, Microsoft needs to act fast and provide a cloud offering that at least gives its own community the option to move Microsoft Exchange to the cloud.

Many people (including myself) have come to the conclusion that Gmail, with its threaded messages, spam filtering, and vast storage space, is one of the web’s best webmail providers. In fact, we like it so much that we use it for both our personal accounts and work accounts using Google Apps. But that also poses a problem: many of us wind up having to maintain two separate Google accounts, which means we have to swap logins whenever our Gmail, Reader, or other data is stored under the other account. Fortunately, there may be an end in sight for this juggling act.

As today’s SXSW panel on Gmail came to a close, the panelists revealed one last juicy tidbit: they’re working to resolve the problems with multiple namespaces that users have to deal with. The team didn’t get specific — they simply repeated that they have to deal with the same problems, as they have “@google.com” accounts for work and standard Gmail accounts for personal use. And they know it’s a pain.

There’s no time frame, and we have no idea what form the feature will take. But at least we know Google is working on it.

Image by Helico

CrunchBase Information

Gmail

Information provided by CrunchBase

Google for the past three years has been trying to upend the enterprise market’s leading software suite, Microsoft Office, with its cloud-based Google Apps. With cloud services now being widely adopted in the enterprise, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s offering is starting to pull ahead.

Google currently claims some 2 million entities as Google Apps users, from small businesses to large corporations such as Motorola and Genentech to cities such as Los Angeles and educational institutions such as Yale University. “Google Apps are growing quite rapidly, especially in the educational sector,” Rajen Sheth, Google Apps senior product manager, told me. The number of people actively using Google Apps now tops 20 million.

The primary driver of Google Apps is no doubt Google Mail. Based on the extremely popular and excellent Gmail service, Google Mail is gaining popularity because it works with established products such as Microsoft Outlook and the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. When I asked Sheth if Google was going to announce Google Buzz for the enterprise, he said: “We are planning to roll it out for businesses but with requisite policy and privacy controls.” Though when that’s likely to happen he wouldn’t say.

Google has seen a marked change in people’s attitudes towards cloud-based services such as Google Apps, which has resulted in it signing on dozens of large companies as customers in the last year alone. “Three years ago people said no way, and now more and more organizations see the benefits of cloud-based services,” said Ben Lutch, director of engineering for Google Apps. As he and Sheth explained, Google Apps’ biggest advantages are its availability and its disaster recovery features, the result of its ability to do “synchronous replication” very quickly and very cheaply.

All Google Apps are written on top of the Google File System, which gives the company the unique ability to not only write data to multiple locations insider a specific data center, but also across the multiple data center locations that make up the global Google infrastructure. Since these globally dispersed locations are connected to each other with very high-speed fiber connections, Google can literally save bits of your information across the globe. (Related: Google’s Infrastructure Is Its Strategic Advantage.)

“Because we are using a vertically integrated set of hardware and software, that essentially frees us from being dependent on third parties, where as other companies are dependent on these third parties,” Lutch said. “We do this to ensure that we are front and center of our infrastructure needs and we don’t have to wait for others to really help us.” Google has developed its own hardware — both computing- and communications-oriented — to work with its own software, which is essentially the Google File System.

“Software is our secret sauce,” boasted Lutch. “Our infrastructure is built on the assumption that there is and will be a failure somewhere so we have put an emphasis on working around those failures. We have done so by focusing primarily on software.”

A post on the Google Enterprise Blog offers additional detail:

In larger businesses, companies will add a storage area network (SAN), which is a consolidated place for all storage. SANs are expensive, and even then, you’re out of luck if your data center goes down. So the largest enterprises will build an entirely new data center somewhere else…..But if, heaven forbid, disaster strikes both your data centers, you’re toast. How do you know if your disaster recovery solution is as strong as you need it to be? It’s usually measured in two ways: RPO (Recovery Point Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective). RPO is how much data you’re willing to lose when things go wrong, and RTO is how long you’re willing to go without service after a disaster. Enterprises without SANs may be literally trucking tapes back and forth between data centers, so as you can imagine their RPOs and RTOs can stretch into days. As for small businesses, often they just have to start over….For Google Apps customers, our RPO design target is zero, and our RTO design target is instant failover. To backup 25GB of data with synchronous replication a business may easily pay from $150 to $500+ in storage and maintenance costs- and that’s per employee. That doesn’t even include the cost of the applications. The exact price depends on a number of factors such as the number of times the data is replicated and the choice of service provider. We also replicate all the data multiple times, and the 25GB per employee for Gmail is backed up for free.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: (subscription required, free trial available)

• Report: Social Media in the Enterprise
• Report: The Real-Time Enterprise
• Threats Loom Large for Microsoft’s Email and Collaboration Platforms
• Google Buzz’s True Home Is in the Enterprise

Feature image courtesy of Flickr user OmarCaf, in-post image courtesy of Flickr user Andy Ciordia

As the feature set with Google Apps continues to grow, the customers kicking its tires will also continue to grow. The pressure on Microsoft's license revenue is ratcheting up...The next two years will prove to be a wild ride for both companies as the shift to the cloud intensifies.

-->
--> --> --> --> Google (NSDQ:GOOG) and Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) compete vigorously in areas like search, mobile devices, and SaaS applications, but when it comes to the channel, there's no comparing the two companies. This week, as Google celebrates the one-year anniversary of its Google Apps Authorized Reseller Program, the notion of Google becoming as synonymous with the channel as Microsoft is doesn't seem as far-fetched as it used to.

That's not to suggest that Google hasn't encountered difficulties along the way. Solution providers tend to regard vendor newcomers to the channel with the cold, appraising eye of a father sizing up his teenage daughter's first boyfriend. So when Google launched its program last February, many VARs that have built businesses around face-to-face interactions were skeptical. And in some early cases, their suspicions were confirmed.

Some VARs that tried to engage with Google were irked by being unable to reach a human company representative, and didn't appreciate being steered instead to Google's Web-based support. Daniel Duffy, CEO of Valley Network Solutions, a solution provider in Fresno, Calif., says that based on what he's seen from Google thus far, the company isn't quite ready to build meaningful channel relationships.

"Their application process and auto-e-mails don't even provide a phone number. By automating everything and eliminating humans wherever possible, Google doesn't make it easy to engage them at a human level," Duffy said. "You'd think that if they wanted to work with resellers, they'd make themselves a little more accessible."

Nonetheless, there are signs that Google sees building a channel as a learning process to which it's fully committed. Google says it's happy with the momentum of the Google Apps Authorized Reseller Program, but it's also acknowledging areas that need improvement and vowing to keep the lines of communication open with channel partners.

"We know we're not doing all things as well as we could, but we're trying to improve. This means listening and making an effort to support and communicate with partners," Stephen Cho, director of Google Apps channels, told Channelweb.com earlier this week.

Google's use of Web-based support reflects the larger industry trend toward more online tools serving the channel community, but that's not the only way the company interacts with partners, Cho said. "In cases when it's possible for partners to be well served through a set of online tools to get problems solved, we're trying to take maximum advantage of that."

Shawn Wilkie, founder of Sheepdog, a Google Apps reseller in Nova Scotia, Canada, and a member of Google's initial group of 30 resellers, says the partnership "hasn't been perfect" but is definitely headed in a channel-friendly direction.

"We've had a lot of care and handling from Google, and they've escalated issues to senior management," said Wilkie. "We're working with Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies on opportunities we wouldn't have seen if we hadn't gone down the SaaS path with Google. Their openness and willingness to attack problems head-on to build a relationship with my company has been incredible."

While many SaaS vendors have built channel programs that bear little similarity to those with which legacy VARs are familiar, the Google Apps Authorized Reseller Program is designed with both traditional and cloud-relevant elements, according to Cho. For example, Google is providing partners access to training, online materials, product functions, and best practices. In the future, Google plans to add general certifications to the program to ensure that partners have the appropriate skills, Cho said.

This year, Google plans to boost its channel resources for partner enablement and profitability, giving VARs the tools they need to get up to speed and deliver basic value added services such as implementation, integration, custom application development, and ongoing management, Cho said.

Does Google think it can attain the kind of channel cachet that Microsoft, arguably the IT industry's best large-scale channel program, has built up over the years? For now, Google is sticking to the humble approach and saying that it has much to learn before it can be considered a true channel master.

However, Google appears to have zeroed in on at least one area of Microsoft's channel program that has been a source of irritation for VARs.

Next: The Microsoft BPOS Effect

The spat that erupted last summer among Google, Apple and AT&T over Google Voice remains unresolved, which means the app for the popular call routing and calling service from Google is still not available on the iPhone.

But Google is not waiting for a thaw in the frosty standoff. The company is following up on its vow to bring Google Voice to the iPhone “one way or the other,” in the words of Vic Gundotra, the vice president of engineering for mobile apps at Google.

On Tuesday, Google unveiled a spruced-up mobile Web version of Google Voice tailored to the iPhone, as well as the Palm Pre. Vincent Paquet, senior product manager for Google Voice, said the new mobile Web version of the product is as good as the native app, which runs on Android mobile phones.

Of course, iPhone users were always able to point their mobile Web browser to m.google.com/voice to access their Google Voice accounts. But plenty of things didn’t work right. For example, making calls was a two-step process and the outbound caller ID feature didn’t work, meaning that whoever received the call couldn’t see who was calling, which is one of the more compelling features of Google Voice. Mr. Paquet said that all those problems have been solved, and that the new version of Google Voice also offers free text messaging.

Mr. Paquet said that the spat with Apple remained unresolved. “We haven’t heard back from Apple on this,” he said.

In August, Apple told the Federal Communications Commission that it was still pondering Google’s application for Google Voice to run on the iPhone. Quite a bit of finger pointing ensued, with Apple and Google publicizing their exchanges with the F.C.C.

Mr. Paquet said that the decision to improve the mobile Web version of Google Voice for the iPhone — and for any mobile Web browser that understands HTML5 — is not meant as a slap to Apple or AT&T.

“It’s a way to make sure that people who have been asking to use Google Voice on the iPhone have a way to do so,” he said.

And of course, Google is releasing the mobile browser version of Google Voice just in time for it to run smoothly on Apple’s soon-to-be-released tablet computer.

Impressive work around for not iphone app allowed yet. Check it out!

Last week, Google announced a new feature for Google Docs that may be the closest thing to the fabled GDrive that we may ever get: the ability to upload and store any kind of file to your Google Docs account. This is a big deal, because it allows you to use Google as a storage service for the first time. But Google only went half way — they let you store the documents, but they didn’t actually build any desktop clients to help you sync them. For that, Google teamed with a handful of third parties. Today sees the launch of the most interesting of those: a desktop syncing client called Memeo Connect that lets you manage your Google Docs account from your desktop, giving you offline access to your Google Docs and making it easy to sync your files across multiple computers.

Most people probably aren’t very familiar with Memeo, but there’s a good chance you’ve come across one of their products at some point — the company makes the local backup software that comes with most external hard drives. But Memeo has also recently been offering some cloud-based file transfer services, which is probably why Google approached them last year about building a local client for the upcoming Google Docs storage feature. Memeo has built native applications for Mac and Windows (both of which are available today), and the service will cost $9/user per year. That’s on top of the $50/year fee you pay Google to become a Premier account holder (which you need to upload files).

Google had a heck of a 2009, kicking off with the launch of their authorized reseller program and wrapping up with the announcement that the City of Los Angeles was going to Google Apps. Last year also marked the launch of several new technologies under the Google banner, including Voice, Chrome — the browser and the OS — and Wave. Later today, I’m speaking with Jeff Ragusa, the Google Apps channel manager to get some perspective on what these technologies meant for resellers in 2009, and what VARs can expect in the year ahead. Here’s some of what I want to know more about.

Google Voice – When I reviewed Google Voice back in December, I noted that while its call-forwarding, voicemail transcription functionality is all there, it couldn’t stand up to a real enterprise VoIP solution. Google’s acquisition of Gizmo5 could change that, since it may very well transition Google Voice to a full VoIP service with potential application in the SMB workspace.

Google Wave - This hybrid instant message/e-mail service was easily the most talked about and least understood Google offering of late 2009. The collaborative aspect holds a lot of appeal, but it’s still in closed beta. It remains to be seen how, if at all, resellers will be able to leverage Wave.

Google Gears – When Offline Gmail first came to the reseller program late last year, facilitated by the Google Gears Firefox and IE extension, there was a chorus of “about time!” in my inbox. I have to wonder if Google has any more plans to integrate Gears with other applications.

Google Chrome OS – Right now, Google has no plans to release their cloud-facilitated operating system on anything but netbooks, but it’s easy to see how an ultra-lightweight, network-connected desktop might be appealing to an enterprise. Besides,

Google Docs – Formerly the golden child of cloud applications, the Google Docs word processing and spreadsheet suite is going to face a lot of competition from all sides in 2010. Microsoft’s Office Web is going to bring its considerable name recognition and desktop integration to bear, while Zoho and HyperOffice can’t seem to stop upgrading or adding features for a second. Does Google have a game plan? Where do resellers fit in?

And yes, I know about Google Nexus One.

More thoughts potentially later this week — after I speak with Google’s Ragusa. In the meantime I wonder: Which Google technologies will gain the channel truly embrace? Hmmm…

Read More About This Topic

• Apple to Make Cloud Moves?
• HyperOffice: The Other Google Apps Competitor
• Google: Three Moves Worth Noting
• Zoho: A Google Apps Foe — And Friend
• Zoho Recruit: HR Tracking in the Cloud