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Why Google Acquired Cloud Migration Startup Velostrata

Google acquired Velostrata to expand enterprise cloud migration tools. The startup streamed VM disk blocks to running Google Cloud instances and joined the GCP family in 2019.
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Google announced on May 9, 2018, that it had agreed to acquire Velostrata, an Israel-based startup whose technology streamed virtual-machine workloads into Google Cloud while the replacement cloud VM was already running. Google said the deal would strengthen its enterprise migration tools; the purchase price was not disclosed. The acquisition later brought Velostrata’s technology and documentation into the Google Cloud Platform family.

Why did Google buy Velostrata?

Google framed the acquisition as a way to expand its tools for enterprises moving workloads to and from the cloud. In its May 9, 2018 announcement, Google Cloud engineering VP Eyal Manor said Velostrata would “add to our broad portfolio of migration tools to support enterprises in their journey to the cloud.”

The technology was aimed at virtual-machine workloads that can be complex or costly to move, including large databases, enterprise applications, DevOps environments and large batch-processing jobs. Google described Velostrata’s approach as letting customers adapt workloads for cloud execution and separate compute from storage.

What Velostrata’s technology did

Traditional migration can require transferring a workload’s full contents before it can run at the destination. Velostrata instead used agentless streaming: it sent compressed, deduplicated and encrypted disk blocks while the replacement virtual machine was already running in Google Cloud. Google’s 2018 technical explanation described the full virtualized-server content transferring transparently in the background.

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This model was intended to reduce the wait before a workload could run in the destination cloud. Google Cloud documented approximately 5 to 10 minutes of downtime for its migration process in 2018; that is Google’s stated figure for the documented workflow, not a universal guarantee for every application or migration.

How the migration approach differed

Dimension Velostrata approach as documented by Google What the distinction means
When the workload can run The replacement VM starts while the full virtualized-server content streams in the background. Execution can begin without first waiting for every disk block to arrive.
Downtime Approximately 5 to 10 minutes, according to Google Cloud’s 2018 documentation. This was a documented estimate, not a promise that every workload would have the same outage.
Compute and storage Google described the system as decoupling compute from storage. The approach allowed workloads to be adapted for cloud execution rather than treating compute and storage as inseparable.
Testing and rollback Google’s technical post described testing and rollback as part of the migration workflow. These controls could help enterprises validate a move and respond if the destination workload did not behave as expected.
Large workloads Google cited large databases, enterprise applications, DevOps and large batch processing as target workloads. The acquisition focused on enterprise virtual machines rather than only small, simple transfers.
Post-migration controls The 2019 Velostrata 4.0 release added EC2 right-sizing and Linux-license conversion, among other features. These additions addressed destination sizing and licensing as part of migration management.

What happened after the acquisition?

Google’s May 2018 announcement said the acquisition was subject to closing conditions and that the Velostrata team would join Google’s Tel Aviv office. Google did not disclose the purchase price. Fortune’s contemporaneous report listed 25 employees and approximately $31.5 million raised; those figures came from secondary reporting, not Google’s announcement. Fortune’s report covered the deal at the time.

By January 29, 2019, Google Cloud said Velostrata 4.0 documentation was officially part of the GCP family following the acquisition. The update listed migration waves, Click to Deploy, EC2 right-sizing and Linux-license conversion among the release’s additions. That establishes the technology’s integration into Google Cloud documentation by 2019; it does not establish a current standalone product SKU or current availability.

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What the deal means for enterprise migration

Velostrata addressed a practical migration problem: enterprises may want workloads running in a cloud destination before all their data has been copied, but they also need a controlled way to test and manage the transition. Google acquired a streaming-based method for VM migration and subsequently incorporated its documentation and features into its cloud platform. The publicly disclosed information does not establish the deal’s financial terms or current product packaging.

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