While Microsoft Azure is slowly closing in on the top spot occupied by Amazon Web Services in the Cloud industry, Google Cloud is also moving up the ladder with some new deals.
On Thursday, Google announced a deal with Box, a cloud-based file-sharing company. The two companies have declined to provide information on the deal’s value, length, or how much data will be stored in Google Cloud. However, this deal extends Box’s current cloud storage and computing agreement inked with Google in 2016. Along with this, the two companies will further integrate Google’s G-Suite with Box’s file-sharing services.
Although Box already uses Google’s infrastructure, now it is widening the scope as the Cloud becomes “the leading provider of data storage worldwide.” This “significant expansion” will witness Box creating its Single Sign-On (SSO) offerings. This creation will simplify the setup process for adding support for Google authentication. Further, it will also improve data processing.
The Box deal is the latest in a series of deals signed by Google, which beat Azure and AWS to win a 10-year deal with Deutsche Bank earlier this month, it also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK government to manage public sector procurement in June. Google also beat AWS in March to win a contract with Major League Baseball.
The frequency of these deals has increased in recent months due to the COVID-19 epidemic, which has spurred the demand for public cloud services from major companies. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have each posted surge in revenues, and Gartner states that the industry’s current market cap is expected to reach $266 billion by the end of 2020.
According to research firm Canalys, after Kurian left Oracle and joined Google in January 2019, Google Cloud increased its market share from 4.9 percent at the end of 2019 to 6 percent at the end of Q1 2020. During the same period, Microsoft Azure grew from 14.5 percent to 17 percent, while Amazon dropped from 33.4 percent to 32 percent.
Since their initial integration in 2018, Box and Google have taken several steps to further integrate Cloud Box and G Suite, including:
• The G Suite sharing experience makes it easy for customers to share Google files stored in the Box, while having the same access settings and privacy controls in the Box, along with easy access to its files and folders.
• Mutual exchange of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for Box and Google Drive allows customers to move its content anywhere while maintaining Google file formats.
• Box introduced a new G-suite plug-in to enable the ‘Save in Box’ experience for G-Suite, allowing customers to launch a document and store it in their G-Suite environment.
Speaking about the deal, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said, “we are excited to extend our partnership with Box as a key global cloud infrastructure partner, and to enable more seamless integrations between Box and G Suite environments.”
He further added, “by building on Google Cloud and continuing to invest in the integration between Box and G Suite, we believe we can provide optimal experiences for our joint customers and for remote teams.”