Google Buys SaaS-Based Cloud Commerce Platform Orbitera

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On Monday, Google said it has acquired Orbitera, a company that helps businesses sell, manage, and use cloud-based software.

No price was disclosed but TechCrunch, citing "sources close to the deal," reports Google paid more than $100 million.

In a blog post, Google said that the way cloud-based software gets deployed, managed, and billed isn't well suited to the way enterprises prefer to operate, which often involves multiple cloud services, vendors, and ISVs. Through its acquisition of Orbitera, Google says it sees a way to harmonize cloud software sales and enterprise business practices.

"This acquisition will not only improve the support of software vendors on Google Cloud Platform, but reinforces Google's support for the multi-cloud world," said Nan Boden, head of global technology partners for Google. "We're providing customers with more choice and flexibility when it comes to running their cloud environment."

Boden noted that Orbitera has helped launch more than 60,000 enterprise software stacks. Its customers include Adobe and Oracle.

Orbitera executives Marcin Kurc (CEO), Firas Bushnaq (cofounder and chief architect), and Brian Singer (cofounder and COO), in a separate blog post, said that becoming part of the Google Cloud Platform would allow Orbitera to fulfill its goal of simplifying the sale of cloud-based enterprise software and services.

"The Google Cloud Platform team shares our vision for seamless purchase and deployment of IT services across heterogeneous cloud infrastructure," the trio said.

Google thus may be selling software that ends up being run by a competing cloud provider. In fact, it's likely, given that Google ranks fourth, behind Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM, as a public cloud provider, according to Synergy Research Group.

[See Google Cloud Conundrum: 7 Questions That Need Answering.]

But Boden insists this will not be a problem. "Looking to the future, we're committed to maintaining Orbitera’s neutrality as a platform supporting multi-cloud commerce," she said.

Google's desire to accommodate enterprise reality echoes the company's cloud platform pitch from earlier this year. At the Google Cloud Platform Next 2016 conference in March, executives from Google and its parent company Alphabet stressed Google's willingness to address the needs of its customers.

"We decided to meet you where you are, as opposed to where we think you should be," said Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt.

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