Traditional enterprise vendors are embracing the public cloud as software-as-a-service continues to disrupt on-premise applications. SAP, for one, is already well along its way in transforming into a cloud services company, and it marked another milestone in its journey this week with the introduction of a hosted business operations suite.

SAP Business Suite via the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud is powered by the company’s in-memory database and features all the apps in the standard on-premise edition, including its widely-used enterprise resource management (ERP) and customer, vendor, supply chain and product management solutions. The offering will be available on a subscription basis from regional data centers, enabling global customers to avoid the added compliance risk associated with keeping business information in remote locations where different regulations may apply.

Red Hat is also repositioning for the cloud, most recently joining forces with Google to let customers move their Enterprise Linux subscriptions to Google Compute Engine instead of having to rent the software for a monthly fee. The pair announced the collaboration within half a year of the search giant joining the Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider program, and three months after Oracle and Verizon unveiled a similar arrangement allowing companies to transfer their existing database licenses to the carrier’s platform-as-a-service offering.

Like SAP and Red Hat, VMware is putting together its cloud strategy one piece at the time. The company on Wednesday pulled the curtains back on a new release of its on-premise desktop virtualization software that allows customers to deliver both images and applications through the hybrid cloud via a built-in client. It also integrates with VMware’s vSAN storage abstraction layer to reduce storage costs and simplify administration, addressing the inefficiencies that have historically hindered in-house VDI deployments.

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