Cloud Sherpas Launches Google App Engine Practice

Cloud Sherpas, a Google Apps enterprise deployment partner, has announced its support for Google's addition of Java to the Google App Engine platform. The systems integrator also announced the formation of a Google App Engine development practice dedicated to extending the utility of Google Apps in large-scale, enterprise deployments.

Cloud Sherpas' announcement coincides with the April 7 Google Campfire One event where Google announced its new Java support for Google App Engine. The Cloud Sherpas team will leverage Google App Engine and the new Java language support to enable deep integrations and build new products for the Google Apps ecosystem, company officials said.

"The drive to reduce cost has created a groundswell of demand for Google Apps among large institutions and enterprise customers," said Michael Cohn, CEO of Cloud Sherpas. "With Java language support, Google App Engine offers an open, scalable platform for organizations to integrate Google Apps with other applications, build custom workflow applications, and migrate legacy workloads to the cloud."

Cloud Sherpas also published a whitepaper entitled "Extending Google Apps with Java for App Engine." The whitepaper offers a high-level overview of the Google App Engine stack and describes an approach for integrating custom applications with Google Apps. The whitepaper can be downloaded at the Cloud Sherpas Website.

"Cloud Sherpas has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to execute in Google Apps deployments,” said Scott McMullan, Google Apps Partner Lead. "We're excited to have them at Campfire One and expect to see their dedicated team develop unique Google Apps extensions and stand-alone products."

Meanwhile, David Hoff, vice president of technology at Cloud Sherpas, said: "Google has responded to developer feedback. The new set of App Engine features, including scheduled tasks, more secure access to firewalled data, and of course, an early look at support for Java programming language, allows enterprise customers to extend Google Apps like never before to meet the unique challenges of their business."