Google Buys Cloud Services Startup Orbitera

Google has acquired a cloud services start-up used by the likes of Oracle, Adobe and Metalogix, as it looks to boost its competitive edge against cloud leaders such as Amazon, Salesforce and Microsoft.

Orbitera makes a platform used by enterprises to buy and sell software and more than 60,000 stacks have been launched using its tools, Google said. Orbitera says its platform automates processes including billing, packaging and pricing for organisations selling cloud-based software.

Multi-cloud support

The West Hollywood, California startup offers services in four areas: provisioning, billing, marketplaces and trials.

Google didn’t disclose terms of the deal, but reports said it paid just over £100 million (£77m).

The company and Orbitera said they plan to continue supporting existing customers.

“Looking to the future, we’re committed to maintaining Orbitera’s neutrality as a platform supporting multi-cloud commerce,” Google said in a statement.

The company said it recognises that enterprises and software vendors want to be able to use more than one cloud provider to conduct product trials and proofs of concept before building a full production deployment, using system integrators and resellers of their choice.

Management experience

“The Google Cloud Platform team shares our vision for seamless purchase and deployment of IT services across heterogeneous cloud infrastructure,” Orbitera said in a statement.

Orbitera’s technology is also intended to help improve the support of software vendors on Google’s own Cloud Platform, Google said.

The acquisition brings on board a management team with significant cloud experience, chief executive Marcin Kurc being a veteran of Amazon Web Services.

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