Salesforce.com announced a new version of Force.com for the Google App Engine, a set of tools and services for developers to build applications using cloud-based resources, on May 27.
The new application allows developers to avoid relying on on-premises infrastructure to create new Web-based applications by letting them pull down real-time cloud computing resources from Google and Salesforce.com. Building Web and business applications directly in the cloud will theoretically streamline the development process.
The newly constructed Web applications will also be able to “leverage enterprise data stored in Force.com,” according to both companies. Force.com for Google App Engine provides developers with, among other features, Java libraries designed to run on Google App Engine, the ability to leverage Java in the scalable App Engine cloud environment, and access to Force.com’s mobile, analytics, security and sharing models.
Force.com for Google App Engine also provides an open-source SOAP Web Service client, complete Java docs for the Web service client and the partner SOAP library, and a sample application.
“Developers can harness Google and Salesforce.com’s real-time cloud computing infrastructures to build and run their applications,” Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, said in a statement. “Building on our work with Google, developers can now take advantage of increasingly powerful cloud computing capabilities in Force.com and App Engine.”
Salesforce.com has made aggressive moves into cloud-based computing, focusing on expanding its SAAS (software-as-a-service) capabilities and adding functionality to its two cloud-based platforms, Sales Cloud and Service Cloud. At presentations, it has been touting the ability of clients to either download integrated applications from Force.com’s AppExchange or build their own apps using the Salesforce cloud.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, the company reported record quarterly revenues of $290 million.