VMWare co-founder takes charge of Google cloud business

Google said Thursday that a VMWare founder was taking charge of its cloud computing business as it looks to close ground on rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft.

Diane Greene, who was already on the board of directors at Alphabet-owned Google, will lead a new team combining Google for Work, Cloud Platform, Google Apps and other services hosted in the Internet cloud.

"This new business will bring together product, engineering, marketing and sales and allow us to operate in a much more integrated, coordinated fashion," Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

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

Google has also signed a deal to buy Greene's startup Bebop, which specializes in building and maintaining business applications in the cloud. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"With these announcements, we're excited to take the next step in helping businesses take advantage of the cloud to work better, operate more securely, run more efficiently and grow faster," Pichai said.

Amazon is widely known for its prowess as an online retail colossus, but it is also thriving when it comes to sending business aloft in the Internet cloud.

Cloud computing is among the fashionable and fast-growing technology trends, with services ranging from free email to streaming Netflix television reliant on the concept.

Ranks of cloud computing rivals range from specialty firms such as Rackspace to century-old technology veteran IBM.

Lagging in the race to the cloud is California-based Google, which has a formidable array of data centers around the world but is known more for what it offers to consumers than businesses.