Google Cloud, SAP HANA Partner on Machine Learning -

Google Cloud and SAP are working together to develop and integrate Google's cloud and machine learning solutions with SAP enterprise applications.

It's a promising move for Google's big data cloud strategy. But it faces intense competition. Amazon Web Services has a growing SAP relationship. And Virtustream -- owned by Dell EMC -- runs mission-critical SAP customers in its cloud.

So what makes the Google Cloud-SAP partnership unique? Announced at Google Cloud Next in San Francisco, here are some details:

Certification of the in-memory database SAP HANA on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

New G Suite integrations.

Data governance collaboration.

Google Cloud is the first public cloud vendor to make SAP HANA express edition available to developers in an on-demand deployment model, the company claims. In addition, the SAP Cloud Platform's Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution now supports G Suite and GCP.

"With this partnership we're offering SAP customers the opportunity to leverage Google Cloud to accelerate their digital transformation and convert data into actionable insights and business outcomes," Nan Boden, Google Cloud's head of technology partners, wrote in a blog post. "We look forward to all the ways we can bring the innovation, scale and reliability of Google Cloud to the already invaluable tools SAP provides."

Google Cloud Introduces Engineering Support for GCP

Meanwhile, Google Cloud also is revamping the customer service model for its public cloud platform.

Engineering Support for GCP will replace the tiers that link support costs directly to cloud usage, according to a GCP blog post. It is a subscription-based model based on three principles:

Predictability: Offers flat fees per user per month.

Configurability: Enables users to configure support to their business needs.

Flexibility: Allows users to change their support levels as their business needs evolve.

Engineering Support for GCP provides three choices per support seat:

Development Engineering Support: Designed for developers or QA engineers who need support within four to eight business hours.

Production Engineering Support: Delivers a one-hour response time for critical issues.

On-Call Engineering Support: Pages a Google engineer and delivers a 15-minute response time 24x7 for critical issues.

Google Cloud said it intends to roll out Engineering Support for GCP this spring and will work with existing customers to migrate them to the new model over the course of the year.

Google Cloud Next Partnership, Program and Product Updates

Google has unveiled multiple relationships this week. Egnyte, Intel and itopia were among the companies to announce Google Cloud partnerships and products at Google Cloud Next.

Google Cloud also unveiled Google Cloud Partner specializations and the Authorized Training Partner Program earlier this week.

Meta Description: Google Cloud announces SAP partnership & subscription-based Engineering Support for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) at Google Cloud Next in San Francisco.