A quickly growing number of rural and independent Internet service providers are adopting the Google Apps cloud-based applications platform, though according to a story at Connected Planet, they are not exactly working directly with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to make it happen.
A Google Chat application in Gmail.(Image courtesy of Google)
The CP story outlines the experience of one such rural service provider, California telco and ISP Sebastian Corp., which worked with managed service provider NeoNova Network Services to add support for Google Apps. NeoNova last week put out an announcement touting the work that is has done with at least 16 rural service providers this year to help them introduce Google Apps. NeoNova also said it has at least a dozen more such deployments now in the works.
Cloud services represent a sector that just about every broadband service provider would like to dabble in, but with a crowded market that includes the likes of Google, Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and many others, there are a lot of choices facing small providers who may not have the time or the budgets to test every platform. Often, it can also be difficult for the small fry to get the attention of giant cloud service companies--telcos like Sebastian are not necessarily on the partnering roadmap of companies like Google or Microsoft, who likely are lavishing more attention on the AT&Ts (NYSE: T) and Verizons (NYSE: VZ) of the world. That`s where companies like NeoNova enter the game, bringing the cloud offerings to market niches they may understand better than the big boys.
