Relevant links are at the bottom of this post.

Google has become the biggest name yet to back the open source cloud system OpenStack. Specifically, Google will help integrate its own open source container management software  Kubernetes.

This may seem like in-the-enterprise-weeds news, but it represents another significant step as Google tries to make up ground against Amazon’s wildly popular AWS suite of cloud products.

OpenStack is a set of tools that companies can use to create and manage Amazon-style cloud computing infrastructures in their own data centers. Companies like PayPal use it to run their own customer-facing web services, while other companies such as HP use it to build cloud services that compete directly with Amazon. Kubernetes, meanwhile, is Google’s tool for managing containers, an increasingly popular technology that makes it easier to move applications back and forth between developer laptops, data centers, and public clouds.

It’s likely that, in backing OpenStack, Google hopes that Kubernetes will drive adoption of its Google Cloud Platform services by making it easier for companies to manage so-called “hybrid clouds,” where some crucial applications reside on a company’s own private data centers and others live in public cloud services such as Google or Amazon. If Google can get more companies to embrace one piece of its cloud, maybe they won’t be as likely to think of Amazon first when they need more.

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/google-backs-open-source-system-cloud-battle-amazon/

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/google-kubernetes-says-future-cloud-computing/

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/software-containers-bringing-tech-giants-together/

https://www.srgresearch.com/articles/aws-market-share-reaches-five-year-high-despite-microsoft-growth-surge