Google Cloud acquires cloud identity management company Bitium

Google Cloud announced today that it has acquired Bitium, a company that focused on offering enterprise-grade identity management and access tools, such as single-sign on, for cloud-based applications. This will basically help Google better manage enterprise cloud customer implementation across an organization, including doing things like setting security levels and access policies for applications working across their Cloud and G Suite offerings.

Bitium was founded in 2012, and targets both mid market and larger enterprise customers,. It’s been offering a single-stop solution for managing Google Apps, Office 365, social network, CRM, collaboration and marketing tools, while ensuring organizations remain compliant with security standards.

The goal of Bitium is to simplify the process of administrating and using popular cloud-based applications so that users aren’t tempted to enter the nefarious realm of “shadow IT,” where they fall back to their own personal accounts across these services because the enterprise alternative is sub-standard or difficult to access.

It sounds like Google wants to continue the work that Bitium was doing on its own, and extend it to additional application partners, while also keeping the platform open to other third-party identity management providers that integrate with enterprise customers on the one side, and Google Cloud and G Suite on the other.

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