IBM是如何抢掉谷歌云服务机会的

最近，IBM大张旗鼓地宣布，VMware公司将成为其新的战略盟友。

根据协议，两家公司将携手帮助企业将自有服务器上的vSphere虚拟化工作流更容易地转移到IBM的SoftLayer公共云平台上，以确保在现场运行的vSphere和在IBM公共云平台上运行的vSphere和谐共存。

对于IBM来说，与VMware的结盟是一场不小的胜利。这是因为，IBM正试图在亚马逊网络服务系统主宰的云计算市场上建立起自己的信誉度。

不过，在这场好戏的大幕之后，还有另一名选手也在暗中角力。据多位匿名消息人士向《财富》透露，大概就在同一时期里，谷歌也希望能与VMware签订类似的合作协议。

一位熟悉VMware并了解内情的消息人士表示：“谷歌也非常希望签订类似的协议，但没想到被IBM截胡了。”

谷歌也构建了庞大的公共云服务平台，包括大量的共享服务器、存储及网络设备——通过租用这些设备，用户就不必构建自己的基础设施了。

像亚马逊网络服务一样，谷歌也需要向用户展示，其云服务具有安全存储企业数据与应用，以及兼容企业现场资源的能力。不过，尽管很多企业用户都认为，租用公共云资源能够节约资金，但他们还是划清楚了底线，不敢将企业最重要的信息和交易放在公共云平台上。

而这种混合型的云计算模式，能够综合运用公共云平台和企业的自有服务器资源，从而使这种模式变得非常具有吸引力。

VMware公司CEO帕特•基尔辛格此前曾指出，在使用了这种混合型云计算模式的企业中，多达80%的企业都采用了VMware的虚拟化工具。因此你也就能明白，为什么各大云服务供应商都把这些虚拟化厂商当作挖掘潜在客户的“金矿”。

那么，为什么VMware选择了IBM而不是谷歌作为盟友？那是因为IBM拥有销售和部署vSphere的经验。

在结盟信息发布之前，IBM云计算部门首席技术官吉姆•康弗特就曾对《财富》表示，IBM的服务部门是VMware的最大经销商，而且IBM已经与VMware的NSX网络虚拟化工具在SoftLayer云平台上展开合作。

VMware的联合创始人黛安•葛琳从2015年11月起就成为了谷歌企业业务的负责人。尽管有这么一层关系，但IBM对VMware相关产品的运营经验，却是拥有庞大的共享云架构的谷歌所不具备的。

为了跟亚马逊网络服务和微软Azure云服务一较高下，谷歌正在打造自家的谷歌云平台。不过谷歌目前显然需要向市场证明，它的云平台已经做好了准备，能够接纳大量通过vSphere虚拟化工具运行的企业日常工作流。

针对谷歌与VMware是否曾就混合云模式的合作进行过商洽的问题，谷歌的一名发言人并未发表评论。不过她指出，谷歌已经与VMware展开了密切合作，以使双方的共同用户受益。该发言人在一封电子邮件中写道：

我们已经向vCloud Air添加了云存储、BigQuery和Datastore等谷歌云平台的服务项目，另外我们也在容器领域与VMware展开了合作。VMware早先已经宣布，将支持谷歌的Kubernetes，而且谷歌和VMware都是原生云计算基金会的创始成员。VMware与IBM围绕SoftLayer的合作，是一项自然而然的进展，对用户是有益的。

IBM和VMware拒绝对本文发表评论。

IBM并不是唯一一家向VMware用户抛出橄榄枝的云厂商。亚马逊网络服务和微软都向用户提供了管理工具，帮助他们在其云平台上使用vSphere。而IBM与VMware结盟的特殊之处则在于，IBM将在VMware的独家协助下，真正地把企业的vSphere工作流从企业自有的服务器转移到云端上。

要指出的是，IBM与VMware的合作并没有申明排他性，必要的话，VMware也会与其他厂商结盟。可以想象，在本月晚些时候即将在旧金山召开的Google Next大会上，谷歌或许也将披露与VMware更进一步的合作计划，但这个可能性并不大。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

审校：任文科

Recently, IBM trumpeted its new alliance with VMware loud and proud.

Under the agreement, the two companies are working to make it easier for businesses running VMware VMW -3.19% vSphere virtualization on their own servers to move those workloads to IBM’s SoftLayer public cloud, all in all assuring coexistence between vSphere running on-premises and on IBM’s cloud.

It was a pretty strong win for IBM IBM 1.44% , which is seeking to build credibility in cloud computing in a market dominated by Amazon AMZN 0.20% Web Services.

But behind the curtain, there was another player in the mix. Google GOOG 0.01% was hoping to announce a very similar deal with VMware VMW -3.19% within the same time frame, several sources told Fortune on condition of anonymity.

“Google really wanted to announce this and then all of a sudden IBM did a ninja move, and it was IBM’s deal,” said one source close to VMware who had knowledge of the process.

Google fields its own massive public cloud—a stockpile of shared servers, storage, and networking—that customers can rent instead of building more of their own infrastructure.

But like AWS, Google needs to show that its cloud can be a safe home for business data and applications and that it can work with on-site resources. Many business customers think they’ll save money by renting public cloud resources, but they still draw the line at putting their most precious information and transactions beyond their own firewall.

The hybrid cloud computing model that lets them mix public cloud and private resources that they can control is very attractive.

A good 80% of those companies now run VMware virtualization on their own servers, as noted byVMware CEO Pat Gelsinger on previous occasions.So you can see why cloud providers see those shops as the mother lode of potential new customers.

So why IBM and not Google? Well, for one thing, IBM has experience selling and implementing vSphere.

In advance of last week’s news, Jim Comfort, chief technology officer for IBM’s cloud unit, told Fortune that IBM’s services business is VMware’s largest distributor and that the company has already worked with VMware’s NSX network virtualization gear on SoftLayer.

That sort of experience is not something that Google, with its massive shared public cloud infrastructure, can claim—even though VMware co-founder Diane Greene has led Google’s enterprise group since November.

It’s clear that Google, which is building out its own Google Cloud Platform as a competitor to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft MSFT 0.70% Azure, still needs to show that it’s ready for the same kind of enterprise workloads that run on vSphere daily.

While a Google spokesperson had no comment on whether Google and VMware had discussed a hybrid cloud partnership, she did note that Google has been working closely with VMware to benefit mutual customers. She wrote via email:

We have added Google Cloud Platform services such as Cloud Storage, BigQuery and Datastore into vCloud Air. We’re also working with VMware in the containers space; VMware announced support for Kubernetes early on, and Google and VMware are co-founders of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. VMware’s collaboration with IBM around SoftLayer is a natural evolution and good for customers.

IBM and VMware declined to comment on this story.

IBM is hardly alone in wooing VMware users. AWSand Microsoft both have offered customers administration tools to help them bridge the vSphere-cloud gap. What made last week’s announcement special is that IBM is promising a way to actually move the work from on-premises server rooms to the cloud with the explicit help and blessing from VMware itself.

To be fair, there’s nothing about this IBM-VMware partnership that screams exclusivity, and VMware will make alliances wherever they make sense. It’s conceivable, but not likely, that Google could disclose deeper partnership plans with VMware atGoogle Next later this month in San Francisco.