Cisco and Google are making a big play when it comes to hybrid cloud, specifically partnering to deliver a solution that works across on-premises and the Google Cloud Platform.
The joint solution could be seen as the final piece in the puzzle for both Cisco and Google when it comes to their cloud stories. 
The open hybrid cloud offering will give businesses the ability to not only run, secure, and monitor workloads across public and private environments, but to also develop new applications in the cloud or on premises using the same developer tools, run time, and production environment. In theory making the whole process of development a lot simpler.
“This joint solution from Google and Cisco facilitates an easy and incremental approach to tapping the benefits of the Cloud. This is what we hear customers asking for,” said Diane Greene, CEO, Google Cloud.
The joint solution will give developers the ability to use managed Kubernetes, GCP Service Catalog, Cisco networking and security, and Istio authentication and service mesh monitoring.
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“Our partnership with Google gives our customers the very best cloud has to offer— agility and scale, coupled with enterprise-class security and support,” said Chuck Robbins, chief executive officer, Cisco. “We share a common vision of a hybrid cloud world that delivers the speed of innovation in an open and secure environment to bring the right solutions to our customers.”
The complete solution will be sold and supported by Google Cloud, Cisco and Cisco’s global partner network.
For both companies this completes their cloud portfolio, or close enough to complete, by giving Google Cloud a credible on-premises partner and Cisco a credible public cloud partner, both have patched up significant holes in their portfolio.
The solution will become available in the first part of 2018 to a limited number of customers, with GA planned for later in the year.
