Google Previews New Mobile App For Cloud Management

Google introduced a new application Monday for remote management of its cloud platform from a phone or tablet.

Cloud Console for Android allows administrators of Google's IaaS and PaaS offerings, Compute Engine and App Engine, to view the status of applications, get alerts, manage incidents and change cloud properties.

"With just a few taps you can quickly glance at the status of your solution, set up alerts, manage your Cloud Platform resources and access Google Cloud Monitoring performance and health graphs," said Michael Thomsen, a product manager at Google, on a Google blog.

[Related: 6 Ways Partners Can Succeed With The Google Cloud Platform]

There's even an iOS version of Cloud Console that should be out later this year, Thomsen noted.

Cloud Console is in beta testing and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Google said it will continue adding features and resolving any issues over the coming months and encouraged users to send feedback and suggestions to [email protected].

Google's partners tell CRN that the new mobile tool will be helpful to cloud administrators and developers using Google's cloud environment.

"It allows for quick problem identification and prioritization from a mobile device," said David Hoff, co-founder and CTO of Cloud Sherpas.

The Atlanta, Ga.-based cloud solution provider has seen programs at Google in which engineers and developers are encouraged to use a tablet or mobile device, in lieu of a laptop, one day a week, Hoff told CRN.

That kind of "dog-fooding approach" in which Google internally validated the product precedes the release, Hoff said.

"We've seen similar results in the Google Apps space, where they have developed a very nice dedicated mobile application for managing Google Apps users and accounts. Google has a laser focus on making the lives of developers and administrators easier, even when they aren't behind a traditional laptop," Hoff told CRN.

Allen Falcon of Cumulus Global, a Google partner based in Westborough, Mass., told CRN via email, "By providing a mobile-management app, admins are no longer tied to a Chromebook or full-size screen to manage. It will make it more convenient for admins to be responsive to users' needs."

PUBLISHED MARCH 31, 2015