Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Cloud Beat Google Enterprise As The New Name For Google's Cloud Computing Offerings

Google (GOOGL) announced Thursday it is rebranding its cloud services as Google Cloud in a bid to better compete with competitors and unveiled G Suite, the new name for Google Apps for Work.

The decision combines Google for Work, Google’s Cloud Platform, which Google said has more than 1 billion users, and the company’s other cloud-based services to bring smart data, analytics, machine learning and digital communications to companies of all sizes in the next five years.

Google’s Diane Greene, senior vice president of enterprise business, told an invitation-only gathering at its Horizon cloud computing conference in San Francisco the company considered the name Google Enterprise to convince customers it is serious about cloud computing — using a network of remote services hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data, replacing a local server or personal computer — TechCrunch reported. It ultimately decided Google Enterprise is too unwieldy and not descriptive enough, she said.

“Enterprise — that was so June,” Greene said. “We are the full power of Google in the Cloud. We are Google Cloud. It’s uniquely Google — a broad set of technologies, solutions and products.”

Greene, a former CEO of VMware, said Google is closing the gap with competitors rapidly though it still trails Amazon and Microsoft on market share. Google reported a 33 percent surge in “other revenue” in the most recent quarter and analysts attributed that to gains in cloud computing, Reuters reported.

Google acquired Apigee Corp., a cloud software company, for $625 million earlier this month. It announced a partnership with the Accenture consulting firm Thursday to develop cloud services for clients.

G Suite, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google+, Google Calendar, Google Hangouts, Google Forms, also includes more artificial intelligence to help employees work more efficiently, Reuters said.

“Our approach and our commitment to Google Cloud customers is simple: We’re in it together,” Greene said in a blog post.

VentureBeat reported Google also announced eight new data center regions: Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney, Northern Virginia, São Paulo, London, Finland and Frankfurt.

Earlier this year, Google changed its name to Alphabet (GOOG).