Cisco global channel exec joins Google Cloud

Vendor also purchases CloudSimple to improve VMware integrations

Google Cloud has nabbed long-time Cisco channel boss Nirav Sheth.

Sheth jumped ship from his role as VP of worldwide sales and systems engineering at Cisco, where his career spanned nearly two decades.

He announced his move to a partner sales leadership role at Google Cloud via an update on his LinkedIn page.

Earlier this year, Oracle veteran Thomas Kurian took over as CEO from Diane Greene and vowed to "compete more aggressively" in the enterprise space.

Google Cloud also announced the acquisition of VMware specialist CloudSimple.

The deal plays into the enterprise promise by accelerating an integrated VMware solution with better support for customers, according to the vendor, Google said.

CloudSimple was founded in 2016 by former Microsoft exec Guru Pang earlier this year.

It enables customers to migrate their VMware enterprise workloads from on-premise datacentres into its platform for Google or Microsoft Azure.

Google had a pre-existing partnership with CloudSimple, and said that its capabilities will allow enterprise customers to "run what they want, where they want and how they want".

Customers can run their apps can on-premise with the benefits of the cloud, including performance, elasticity and integration with key cloud services and technologies, the vendor elaborated.

"The acquisition of CloudSimple continues to demonstrate Google Cloud's commitment to providing enterprise customers with a broad suite of solutions to modernise their IT infrastructure. We're thrilled about the team that will be joining us, and the expertise they bring to Google Cloud," the cloud provider stated when announcing the news.

Guru Pangal, founder and CEO of Cloud Simple, wrote on CloudSimple's blog: "We saw the incredible potential to transform enterprise workloads to the cloud by partnering more strategically with a cloud provider who could help us with larger investments and tighter integration with the cloud to realise the massive potential of our offering.

"Google Cloud's amazing innovation prowess, modern infrastructure and clear leadership in areas like smart analytics convinced us that joining this incredible team will accelerate our joint vision."

Ajay Patel, senior vice president of cloud provider software at VMware, added: "We look forward to continuing our partnership with Google Cloud as they welcome CloudSimple, a VMware Cloud Verified partner.

"With VMware on Google Cloud Platform, customers will be able to leverage all of the familiarity of VMware tools and training, and protect their investments, as they execute on their cloud strategies and rapidly bring new services to market and operate them seamlessly and more securely across a hybrid cloud environment."