Google Cloud Has 'Good Shot' at Topping AWS by 2022, SVP Greene Says

Google is well positioned to compete and even surpass Amazon Web Services in public cloud during the next half-decade, the head of Google’s cloud division told a weekend gathering of tech leaders.

The public cloud arm of tech giant Alphabet is in the midst of a rapid, multi-year expansion that included bringing on Diane Greene as senior vice president of Google Cloud in November of 2015.

During a question and answer session at the Forbes CIO Summit in Half Moon Bay on Sunday, Greene suggested the fast-growing Google Cloud Platform is poised to leapfrog competitors AWS, Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud, all of which currently have a larger share of public cloud market.  

“I think we have a pretty good shot at being No. 1 in five years,” she’s quoted as telling the group, according to an article at Forbes.com.

AWS has long been the market leader in public cloud, followed by Microsoft and IBM.

All of the companies are seeing dramatic growth in cloud earnings.

Greene told the audience that, in many respects, the scale is tipped in Google’s favor, but acknowledged that the company must continue to execute.

“I actually think we have a huge advantage in our data centers, in our infrastructure, availability, security and how we automate things,” Greene continued. “We just haven’t packaged it perfectly yet.”

In March of 2016, Alphabet announced it was pouring tens of billions of dollars into Google Cloud, and expanding the number of global data centers from three to 15 by the end of 2017.

Last month, Google announced it was expanding its cloud partner program, increasing investments and financial incentives, adding new technical training and certifications; and committing to the role of partners in driving adoption of its Google Cloud Platform.

“Google Cloud partners are essential to our commitment to help enterprises innovate faster, scale smarter and stay secure,” company executives wrote in a March blog post announcing the expanded program. “Partners deliver significant value to our customers, and we’re committed to supporting their success.”

During Sunday’s CIO Summit, Green said Google intends to use the full weight of its technological wherewithal to become the dominant player in cloud.

“Google is just build for having the most technology,” Forbes quoted her as saying. “That’s what we’re good at and that’s who we’ve hired.”

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