Google may already have one of the world's most powerful networks of data centers, able to handle over three billion of search queries each day. But Amazon that is one of the fastest growing business in cloud computing, is more capable to rent its computer power to others.
This has made Google feel left behind. And to catch up, the company renewed its effort.
As its way to keep up with the growing Amazon, Google on Tuesday, October 4th, 2014, highlights new offerings that make it easier for customers to set up their cloud services more quickly. The company's executives said that they've learned from their past mistakes, and for that, they are adapting the company's offering.
Though it will be a tough, especially when Amazon is already steps ahead.
Several years ago, Google's service didn't really exist. And Amazon was the only major option for cloud computing to most companies. Since Google started its cloud computing service, many business still rely on Amazon, while Google is just considered as a backup place, a second-place contender in case their Amazon service goes wrong.
Amazon started renting computing power in 2006 with its Amazon Web Services. Google started offering similar service two years later with its first cloud service, App Engine. Initially, Google required its customers to write software similar to the way Google does.
The reason is because Google’s data centers were custom built to process search queries efficiently. That meant software and apps had to be written differently than the norm outside Google. This wasn't compelling to potential users.
Amazon on the other hand, was a lot more flexible with its virtual machines that let developers use their own preferred programming language, databases and tools. Amazon used a more standard technology, and this has made Amazon a more popular choice if compared to the search giant.
Google saw its initial method a drawback, the company adopted Amazon's approach later.
A former Amazon executive said that Google didn't see the potential of cloud computing as early as Amazon did. This has left Google trailing behind Amazon's dust. And when Google finally delivers cloud computing on its own, many people aren't yet convinced that Google is capable.
Google's executive stated that the company have never questioned the value of renting out its servers to others. The one problem is that Google is more focused on building enough data centers to run its own services, especially its search engine that made the company popular.
Amazon is clear leader in cloud computing. The company provides most cloud-computing units and collecting a third of the revenue, according to estimates from research firm Gartner. At the list, Microsoft's Azure came second, and Google came third.
The biggest issue Google has to overcome is the cost and complexity of switching providers. The company is also weaker in term of administrative tasks like billing. Some of these are Google's main disadvantages over Amazon. Amazon has all these sorted out, and it's users have already enjoyed a more developed ecosystem, and that is a huge advantage.
Because it has been around longer, Amazon has collected more feedback. Google's biggest leap toward cloud computing was when the company launched Compute Engine, a service similar to Amazon's. However, this has created another problem because Google's engineers see this project as "going back in time."
To better compete, earlier in 2014 Google announced a significant price reduction for all of its cloud services. But not long after that, Amazon did the same, again.
Cloud computing is still a relatively new business. Only a handful of companies are capable in delivering computing power sufficient enough to power other companies with ease and good efficiency. Cloud computing that came later, isn't Google's top priority. Google has made billions from its ads revenue collected from targeting users' using its services.