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Google Taps Former VMware Chief To Head Cloud Unit

Diane Greene, co-founder of VMware and its former president and CEO, has just accepted a new post at Google.

The search giant on Thursday said that it is combining its various cloud groups to create a new unit -- to be headed by Greene -- that includes Google for Work, the Google Cloud Platform and Google Apps. Bebop, a startup that Greene founded, has also been acquired by Google.  

The move will result in more coordination, said Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a post on the company's blog. "This new business will bring together product, engineering, marketing and sales and allow us to operate in a much more integrated, coordinated fashion," Pichai said.

It also brings one of the IT industry's most influential women back into the fold, more than seven years after she was ousted as VMware's CEO by EMC CEO Joe Tucci, when the two failed to see eye to eye.

Greene has since kept a low profile, though she did join Google's board of directors three years ago and will remain there, according to Pichai's post.

"Cloud computing is revolutionizing the way people live and work, and there is no better person to lead this important area," he said.

Pichai described Bebop, the startup that Greene was running and that is now part of Google, as a new development platform to build and maintain enterprise apps.

"Bebop and its stellar team will help us provide integrated cloud products at every level: end-user platforms like Android and Chromebooks, infrastructure and services in Google Cloud Platform, developer frameworks for mobile and enterprise users, and end-user applications like Gmail and Docs," Pichai said. "Both Diane and the Bebop team will join Google upon close of the acquisition."

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.

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