Google LLC and VMware Inc. Thursday announced a preview release of a new plugin for VMware’s vRealize Orchestrator tool.

In addition they announced support for Google Cloud Platform resources in VMware’s vRealize Automation suite, which will enable users to deploy and manage Google Compute Engine Virtual Machines to Google’s cloud.

vRealize Orchestrator is a feature of VMware’s vCenter product that’s used to help automate other VMware products, including its vSphere virtualization platform and its vCloud suite. vRealize Automation is a software platform designed to help information technology administrators build and manage heterogeneous hybrid clouds. It’s used to perform tasks such as IT infrastructure personalization, resource provisioning and configuration, and it also automates application delivery and container management.

VMware in a blog post said the new plugin will enable users to begin provisioning virtual machines and storage to Google’s cloud. It will also allow users to publish blueprints, including Google Compute VMs and storage buckets, to their self-service catalog.

In a second blog post, Google Compute Engine product manager Shan Kulandaivel explained the need for the plugin, saying that many of its cloud customers that run hybrid environments also use VMware software on-premises. These customers are looking for a way to simplify provisioning and enable end-user self service, he said, while also ensure compliance with IT policies.

“As a result, many use VMware vRealize Automation, a platform for automated self-service provisioning and lifecycle management of IT infrastructure, and are looking for ways to leverage it in the cloud,” Kulandaivel wrote.

The companies offered a number of use cases for the plugin, including the ability to reach new Google cloud regions in Finland, Mumbai and Singapore to address global business needs. The plugin also allows users to define large-scale applications using vRealize Automation and deploy these to Google Compute Engine to leverage its load balancing and automatic scaling capabilities.

Users can also save money by deploying VMs as Premptible VM Instances on Google’s cloud, and by using Google’s Custom Machine Types feature to configure the VMs for specific application needs. The plugin also enables access to Compute Engine’s Nvidia Corp. Tesla P100 graphics processing units, which can be used to accelerate the training of machine learning models, the companies said.

Analyst Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. said Google and VMware were trying to meet a specific demand among some enterprises to move to the public cloud while at the same time keep using the IT instrumentation they’re familiar with.

“The VMware/Google partnership around vRealize taps into that demand, allowing enterprises to keep using a single pane of glass for their on-premises and cloud computing needs,” Mueller said.

Even so, Mueller said there was plenty of room for the two companies to expand their relationship: “This is a good first step between the two vendors, but the big question is when will VMware virtual machines run on Google Cloud Platform?”

That could well be forthcoming sooner than we think. Google hinted at a closer relationship with VMware in its blog post, saying that it’s working with the company to “add support for additional GCP products such as Cloud TPUs,” and that it will provide more information on this in the coming months.

VMware said its customer can request early access to the plugin now, ahead of its release on the VMware Solutions Exchange.

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