Salesforce adds support for Google Apps

Force.com users will be able to craft new Google Apps using data and components from Salesforce

Salesforce.com is adding support for Google Apps to its Force.com service. The initiative will tie Google's App engine to the Force.com hosted enterprise software system.

The engine will enable Force.com users to craft new Google Apps which use data and components from the Salesforce.com service.

The new feature completes an interoperability project which Salesforce.com and Google have been attempting since last summer, when Salesforce.com began adding support for Google's hosted services to Force.com.

"We have an open vision for cloud computing," said Salesforce.com founder and chief executive Marc Benioff.

"Developers now can take advantage of the easy-to-use and rapidly scalable cloud computing infrastructures from Google and Salesforce.com to build and deliver powerful business applications."

Salesforce.com began as an online provider of customer relationship management software, and has since branched out into a hosted service-oriented architecture system provider with Force.com.

Google, meanwhile, has focused its efforts on producing an online productivity and communications suite with Google Apps.

The two companies feel that their services are largely complementary, and the deal has led to some speculation that Google may be considering a future acquisition of Salesforce.com.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the two sides were in direct talks on an acquisition deal.