谷歌强势挺进企业市场

    长期以来，谷歌公司（Google）一直被指责在业务上缺乏重点，更有人质疑谷歌对企业客户并无诚意。但是这家曾以搜索引擎著称的公司坚信，它采取了一条正确无误的道路——如果能为消费者打造出色的工具，企业客户最终也会随之而来——哪怕要花上好几年的时间才能让企业客户动心。

    上周，谷歌举行了“谷奥”大会（Google I/O conference）。会上，众多惊人的技术成果纷纷亮相，其中有一些引人瞩目的产品升级和新产品，公司宣布它们是专为企业用户开发的。首当其冲的是谷歌计算引擎（Compute Engine），这是一种“基础设施即服务”（IaaS）产品，它能让开发者在谷歌的高性能服务器上运行自己的应用程序。谷歌还展示了一些更便于商业用户使用的谷歌应用升级，比如离线编辑文档的功能，以及可在苹果iPhone和iPad上使用的Chrome浏览器。

    在目前的高科技竞技场上，谷歌计算引擎可谓姗姗来迟，但对谷歌来说，这是顺理成章、合乎逻辑的一步。之所以迈出这一步，原因和亚马逊（Amazon）公司几年前顺势推出云计算平台的初衷几乎如出一辙。亚马逊并未公布其云计算带来的收入，但据估算，去年这项业务贡献的销售额约为9.4亿美元。谷歌计算引擎并不仅仅是个富有潜力的挣钱机器，就像亚马逊早已拥有规模巨大的计算和存储基础设施一样。它也是让众多开发者融入自己团队的一条捷径——这是用来和微软（Microsoft）这样的竞争对手展开角逐的十分宝贵的一招。

    Chrome和谷歌应用高级副总裁桑达•皮采伊对谷歌计算引擎的立场是：“对我们而言这是一个核心领域，我们正对此进行长期深入的投资。我们着眼长远。”

    皮采伊称，谷歌对企业级市场所采用的举措已经历了一次“进化”。谷歌的大多数产品在起步时都以消费者为目标人群，但现在也拥有了一支致力于为企业客户服务的销售和市场营销团队。而在皮采伊看来，消费者市场和企业市场之间的边界正在日益变得模糊。比如：安卓（Android）操作系统经过了很长时间才在消费者中赢得了一席之地，随后才获得发展壮大。但是现在谷歌发现，有迹象表明，许多企业也已经开始采用这一系统。

    这其实并不是什么全新的概念。早在2004年，在“消费化”（consumerization）还没成为流行词汇之前，谷歌的Gmail就已经开始以仅通过邀请才能使用的电邮服务形式为消费者提供服务。然后，它慢慢地为企业所接受。像基因泰克公司（Genentech）这类大型公司是较早使用的客户，不过Gmail绝大多数企业用户都是小公司。谷歌称，现在全美仍有500万家企业在使用Gmail。当然，像很多谷歌产品一样，一些成功打入企业的产品或服务最终也会铩羽而归。谷歌表示，自己正在对Chromebook进行长期投资。这值得庆贺，因为就算这一宏图大志真的能够实现，这些轻型笔记本也要花上数年时间才能在企业用户中真正扎下根来（而对企业用户来说，离线编辑的功能依然非常有限）。

    尽管进军企业市场的构想还算不上尽善尽美，但谷歌确实郑重其事地希望有所作为。而其闯入各种似乎互不相关的产品领域的一贯做法，恰恰是谷歌企业文化和组织特性的典型体现，也与其搜索引擎的风格一脉相承。那么，谷歌为企业客户开发的下一代完全加密、密码保护的“眼镜”会是什么样呢？可能还得等上一阵子。不过，等到水落石出那一天，人们也许并不会觉得太意外。

    译者：清远

    Google has long been criticized for a lack of focus, and some doubt its commitment to enterprise customers.But the company formerly known as a search engine believes that it's got the right approach -- build great consumer tools and corporate customers will eventually follow -- even if it takes years for its products to catch on in the workplace.

    Amidst all of the stunts and theatrics at last week's Google I/O conference, the company announced a handful of noteworthy upgrades and offerings geared toward enterprise customers. At the top of the list was the launch of Google Compute Engine, an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) product that lets developers run their applications on Google's (GOOG) high-performance servers. The company also unveiled a few business-friendly upgrades to Google Apps, like the ability to edit documents offline, and the availability of the Chrome browser on Apple (AAPL) iPhones and iPads.

    Google's Compute Engine is late to the game, but it's a logical step for the company for the same reason that it made sense for Amazon (AMZN), an online retailer, to launch its cloud computing platform years ago. Amazon doesn't break out revenue from its remote computing services, but it's estimated to have contributed about $940 million in sales last year. And Google Compute isn't just a potential moneymaker for Google, which like Amazon already has massive computing and storage infrastructure in place. It's also a way to get developers on its team -- a valuable play for competing with other rivals like Microsoft (MSFT).

    "This is an area which is core to us, and we are making a deep, long investment here," Sundar Pinchai, senior VP for Chrome and Apps, says of Google Compute. "We think for the long haul."

    Pinchai says Google's approach to the enterprise market has gone through an "evolution." Most products still start out on the consumer side but Google now has a dedicated enterprise sales and marketing team. And, Pinchai argues, the lines are blurring between consumer and business. Case in point: Its Android operating system took time to grow among consumers. But now the company is starting to see signs of its acceptance in the workplace.

    This isn't an entirely new concept. Back in 2004, before "consumerization" was a buzzword, Google's Gmail started out as an invite-only email service for consumers. It then slowly made its way into the workplace. Large corporate customers like Genentech were early adopters, but the vast majority of Gmail customers are smaller businesses. Still, Google says five million businesses across the country now use it.

    Of course, like many Google products, some of the offerings that make it into the enterprise will flop. Google says it's making a long-term investment in Chromebooks. Good thing, because it will likely be years before these lightweight laptops gain any significant traction among businesses, if it ever happens at all. (Even with offline editing they still have very limited functionality for enterprise users.)

    But Google's attempt to enter the enterprise is serious, even if it isn't entirely polished. And the company's forays into seemingly unrelated products are almost as integral to its culture and identity as, well, its search engine. So what's next, a fully encrypted, password-protected version of Google Glass for the enterprise? Probably not anytime soon. Then again, it wouldn't be much of a surprise.