最近，IBM大張旗鼓地宣布，VMware公司將成為其新的戰(zhàn)略盟友。

根據(jù)協(xié)議，兩家公司將攜手幫助企業(yè)將自有服務器上的vSphere虛擬化工作流更容易地轉(zhuǎn)移到IBM的SoftLayer公共云平臺上，以確保在現(xiàn)場運行的vSphere和在IBM公共云平臺上運行的vSphere和諧共存。

對于IBM來說，與VMware的結(jié)盟是一場不小的勝利。這是因為，IBM正試圖在亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡服務系統(tǒng)主宰的云計算市場上建立起自己的信譽度。

不過，在這場好戲的大幕之后，還有另一名選手也在暗中角力。據(jù)多位匿名消息人士向《財富》透露，大概就在同一時期里，谷歌也希望能與VMware簽訂類似的合作協(xié)議。

一位熟悉VMware并了解內(nèi)情的消息人士表示：“谷歌也非常希望簽訂類似的協(xié)議，但沒想到被IBM截胡了?！?/p>

谷歌也構(gòu)建了龐大的公共云服務平臺，包括大量的共享服務器、存儲及網(wǎng)絡設備——通過租用這些設備，用戶就不必構(gòu)建自己的基礎設施了。

像亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡服務一樣，谷歌也需要向用戶展示，其云服務具有安全存儲企業(yè)數(shù)據(jù)與應用，以及兼容企業(yè)現(xiàn)場資源的能力。不過，盡管很多企業(yè)用戶都認為，租用公共云資源能夠節(jié)約資金，但他們還是劃清楚了底線，不敢將企業(yè)最重要的信息和交易放在公共云平臺上。

而這種混合型的云計算模式，能夠綜合運用公共云平臺和企業(yè)的自有服務器資源，從而使這種模式變得非常具有吸引力。

VMware公司CEO帕特?基爾辛格此前曾指出，在使用了這種混合型云計算模式的企業(yè)中，多達80%的企業(yè)都采用了VMware的虛擬化工具。因此你也就能明白，為什么各大云服務供應商都把這些虛擬化廠商當作挖掘潛在客戶的“金礦”。

那么，為什么VMware選擇了IBM而不是谷歌作為盟友？那是因為IBM擁有銷售和部署vSphere的經(jīng)驗。

在結(jié)盟信息發(fā)布之前，IBM云計算部門首席技術官吉姆?康弗特就曾對《財富》表示，IBM的服務部門是VMware的最大經(jīng)銷商，而且IBM已經(jīng)與VMware的NSX網(wǎng)絡虛擬化工具在SoftLayer云平臺上展開合作。

VMware的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人黛安?葛琳從2015年11月起就成為了谷歌企業(yè)業(yè)務的負責人。盡管有這么一層關系，但IBM對VMware相關產(chǎn)品的運營經(jīng)驗，卻是擁有龐大的共享云架構(gòu)的谷歌所不具備的。

為了跟亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡服務和微軟Azure云服務一較高下，谷歌正在打造自家的谷歌云平臺。不過谷歌目前顯然需要向市場證明，它的云平臺已經(jīng)做好了準備，能夠接納大量通過vSphere虛擬化工具運行的企業(yè)日常工作流。

針對谷歌與VMware是否曾就混合云模式的合作進行過商洽的問題，谷歌的一名發(fā)言人并未發(fā)表評論。不過她指出，谷歌已經(jīng)與VMware展開了密切合作，以使雙方的共同用戶受益。該發(fā)言人在一封電子郵件中寫道：

我們已經(jīng)向vCloud Air添加了云存儲、BigQuery和Datastore等谷歌云平臺的服務項目，另外我們也在容器領域與VMware展開了合作。VMware早先已經(jīng)宣布，將支持谷歌的Kubernetes，而且谷歌和VMware都是原生云計算基金會的創(chuàng)始成員。VMware與IBM圍繞SoftLayer的合作，是一項自然而然的進展，對用戶是有益的。

IBM和VMware拒絕對本文發(fā)表評論。

IBM并不是唯一一家向VMware用戶拋出橄欖枝的云廠商。亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡服務和微軟都向用戶提供了管理工具，幫助他們在其云平臺上使用vSphere。而IBM與VMware結(jié)盟的特殊之處則在于，IBM將在VMware的獨家協(xié)助下，真正地把企業(yè)的vSphere工作流從企業(yè)自有的服務器轉(zhuǎn)移到云端上。

要指出的是，IBM與VMware的合作并沒有申明排他性，必要的話，VMware也會與其他廠商結(jié)盟?？梢韵胂?，在本月晚些時候即將在舊金山召開的Google Next大會上，谷歌或許也將披露與VMware更進一步的合作計劃，但這個可能性并不大。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

審校：任文科

Recently, IBM trumpeted its new alliance with VMware loud and proud.

Under the agreement, the two companies are working to make it easier for businesses running VMware VMW -3.19% vSphere virtualization on their own servers to move those workloads to IBM’s SoftLayer public cloud, all in all assuring coexistence between vSphere running on-premises and on IBM’s cloud.

It was a pretty strong win for IBM IBM 1.44% , which is seeking to build credibility in cloud computing in a market dominated by Amazon AMZN 0.20% Web Services.

But behind the curtain, there was another player in the mix. Google GOOG 0.01% was hoping to announce a very similar deal with VMware VMW -3.19% within the same time frame, several sources told Fortune on condition of anonymity.

“Google really wanted to announce this and then all of a sudden IBM did a ninja move, and it was IBM’s deal,” said one source close to VMware who had knowledge of the process.

Google fields its own massive public cloud—a stockpile of shared servers, storage, and networking—that customers can rent instead of building more of their own infrastructure.

But like AWS, Google needs to show that its cloud can be a safe home for business data and applications and that it can work with on-site resources. Many business customers think they’ll save money by renting public cloud resources, but they still draw the line at putting their most precious information and transactions beyond their own firewall.

The hybrid cloud computing model that lets them mix public cloud and private resources that they can control is very attractive.

A good 80% of those companies now run VMware virtualization on their own servers, as noted byVMware CEO Pat Gelsinger on previous occasions.So you can see why cloud providers see those shops as the mother lode of potential new customers.

So why IBM and not Google? Well, for one thing, IBM has experience selling and implementing vSphere.

In advance of last week’s news, Jim Comfort, chief technology officer for IBM’s cloud unit, told Fortune that IBM’s services business is VMware’s largest distributor and that the company has already worked with VMware’s NSX network virtualization gear on SoftLayer.

That sort of experience is not something that Google, with its massive shared public cloud infrastructure, can claim—even though VMware co-founder Diane Greene has led Google’s enterprise group since November.

It’s clear that Google, which is building out its own Google Cloud Platform as a competitor to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft MSFT 0.70% Azure, still needs to show that it’s ready for the same kind of enterprise workloads that run on vSphere daily.

While a Google spokesperson had no comment on whether Google and VMware had discussed a hybrid cloud partnership, she did note that Google has been working closely with VMware to benefit mutual customers. She wrote via email:

We have added Google Cloud Platform services such as Cloud Storage, BigQuery and Datastore into vCloud Air. We’re also working with VMware in the containers space; VMware announced support for Kubernetes early on, and Google and VMware are co-founders of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. VMware’s collaboration with IBM around SoftLayer is a natural evolution and good for customers.

IBM and VMware declined to comment on this story.

IBM is hardly alone in wooing VMware users. AWSand Microsoft both have offered customers administration tools to help them bridge the vSphere-cloud gap. What made last week’s announcement special is that IBM is promising a way to actually move the work from on-premises server rooms to the cloud with the explicit help and blessing from VMware itself.

To be fair, there’s nothing about this IBM-VMware partnership that screams exclusivity, and VMware will make alliances wherever they make sense. It’s conceivable, but not likely, that Google could disclose deeper partnership plans with VMware atGoogle Next later this month in San Francisco.