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Symphony Moves to Google’s Cloud

Steve Nellis

Jul. 20, 2016 7:31 AM PT

Symphony Communication Services, the bank-backed messaging startup taking on Bloomberg LP, is moving most of its cloud computing business to Google from Amazon Web Services, Symphony CEO David Gurle told The Information in an interview.

The deal is a symbolic win for Google, which is running a distant third behind Amazon Web Services and Microsoft in providing cloud computing for companies. And by landing the deal, Google may be better positioned to win the cloud business of Symphony’s backers, which include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Citibank and J.P. Morgan.

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This isn’t Symphony’s first business deal with Google, Mr. Gurle said. The company has already used and integrated with Google’s business apps, such as Google Docs. And when Symphony was first launched in October 2014, the team used Google App Engine, a sort of simplified version of Google’s infrastructure that lets developers run applications without having to worry about managing individual servers. But later, Symphony moved to AWS, where it was offered to customers. Now it is moving back.