Google Cloud has a powerful new friend, as VMware continues to form key partnerships with the major cloud players (GOOG, VMW, AMZN, MSFT)

• Google and VMware announced Monday an expanded partnership that would allow businesses to use VMware tools on the tech giant's cloud platform.
• The deal would expand the reach of both companies at a time more businesses are moving to the cloud, but many are still maintaining networks in private data centers.
• However, VMware recently inked a similar deal with Microsoft — and has hinted that its true focus is on its longer-running partnership with Amazon Web Services.
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Google and VMware are expanding their partnership to make it easier for businesses using their products to set up and run their networks in the cloud.

The agreement, which was unveiled Monday, would let businesses using VMware's virtualization and networking tools will be able to do so on Google's cloud platform. The partnership was first reported by Bloomberg on Monday.

Google is the third-largest player, after Amazon and Microsoft, in the nearly $100 billion cloud market, according to a new report. Cloud computing offers businesses a way to set up and run their networks on a web-based platform,  instead of on-premise data centers, dramatically cutting their IT costs.

VMware offers software makes it easier for enterprises to move to the cloud or embrace a hybrid cloud strategy, in which they store and process data and use applications on a public cloud, such as those run by Google, Microsoft and Amazon, while still performing some of those tasks on their own data centers.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian called the partnership "another significant step as we strive to better serve our enterprise customers."

"Both Google Cloud and VMware believe that customers want to run workloads in the cloud that works best for them," Kurian said in a blog post that Google plans to publish on Tuesday. 

Of note, however, is that VMware has partnerships with Google's biggest cloud rivals, too. Earlier this year, it announced a similar deal with Microsoft, bringing VMware's software closer with the Azure cloud. However, VMware has given every indication that its true focus is on its relationship with Amazon Web Services, which was the company's first and likely still biggest cloud partnership.  

Removing friction

IDC President Crawford Del Prete is "very good news" for Google's cloud platform, which is struggling to expand its market share against stronger players, Amazon and Microsoft. Given that VMware is all but standard in large-scale IT infrastructures, it gives Google renewed appeal to a broad, lucrative new market. 

"This raises Google Cloud Platform's relevance with customers considerably and creates yet another reason for customer consideration," he told Business Insider.

Analyst Ray Wang of Constellation Research said the expanded partnership would help businesses that are navigating the transition between keeping their networks on-premise and taking them to the cloud. 

"It's a key step in enabling co-existence and long term migration to public cloud," he told Business Insider.

The deal could also enhance Google and VMware's ability to attract more customers, analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group said.

"The announcement will make Google Cloud more interesting to more people and remove friction for those that like Google Cloud and want to use VMware," he told Business Insider. "It should result in positive revenue and profit uplift for both companies assuming they do good demand generation for the resulting solutions."

Got a tip about Google, VMware or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at bpimentel@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @benpimentel. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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