When it comes to actually putting sales feet on the street Google is at something of a disadvantage compared to traditional enterprise IT rivals such as Microsoft or IBM or, for that matter, Amazon Web Services (AWS). In fact, Google is counting on partners such as VMware to push adoption of Google Compute Cloud as an extension of the VMware vCloud Air platform.

Now VMware is reaching out to Panzura, a provider of storage software that turns public clouds into a natural extension of an on premise IT environment, to help drive further adoption of both VMware vCloud Air and the Google Compute Cloud. While VMware vCloud Air naturally makes use of EMC systems for primary storage, Panzura CEO Randy Chou said the availability of Panzura Cloud Controllers of the VMware vCloud Air makes invoking Google storage services a more seamless experience for IT organizations.

Via a Layer 2 connection Panzura Cloud Controllers makes use of a Panzura Global File System to access vCloud Air Object Storage in a way that removes the need for WAN Optimization and expensive MPLS networks. In addition, Chou noted that a global file locking capabilities enables applications built for a local area network to be accesses over a WAN in about 10 to 20 seconds.

For solution providers Chou said the alliance with VMware is especially compelling given the dominance VMware has in IT environments running on premise. VMware partners now have access to a global file system that make it much easier to sell VMware cloud services as an extension of the local storage system that VMware virtual machines are accessing. In addition, Chou noted that Panzura also has relationships with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google than enable solution providers to provide access to storage resources residing in multiple clouds.

Chou said that solution providers are playing a critical role in driving the shift to the cloud because within many organizations making the move to the cloud is now a board-level decision because it essentially comes down to whether the board wants to treat IT as a capital or operating expense. Internal IT organizations tend to have a vested interest in treating IT as a capital expense rather than an operating expense that could be more easily addressed by a cloud service provider. But given all the competition there is inside an organization for a limited amount of capital expense dollars more corporate boards are clearly driving their organizations into the cloud as much as possible.