Cloud Rivals AWS and Google Cloud Forge Alliance for Multicloud Networking

In a significant industry development, cloud computing giants Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud have announced a joint multicloud networking service, marking a notable shift towards greater interoperability. This collaboration, revealed around December 1-3, 2025, aims to simplify how enterprise customers connect workloads across their respective platforms, as reported by CIO Dive.

The new service, currently in preview, integrates AWS Interconnect - multicloud with Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Interconnect, promising to streamline previously complex and time-consuming network configurations. According to a joint announcement, this partnership addresses the persistent challenges of vendor lock-in and the financial repercussions of cloud disruptions.

Experts suggest this alliance signals a fundamental change in multicloud connectivity, moving away from manual, "do-it-yourself" approaches. Robert Kennedy, VP of Network Services at AWS, stated in a press release that customers can now activate multicloud connectivity in minutes with a simple point and click.

The initiative is designed to enable private, high-speed connectivity between the two cloud environments, drastically reducing setup times from weeks or months to mere minutes, as noted by Petri IT Knowledgebase. This enhanced automation and speed are crucial for businesses managing global, multi-layered networks.

This unexpected partnership also introduces an open specification for network interoperability, inviting other cloud providers to adopt the standard. Forrester Principal Analyst Lee Sustar suggested this move puts pressure on other providers like Oracle to embrace the open API, according to CIO Dive.

The collaboration is particularly timely, following recent outages experienced by both AWS and Google Cloud, which highlighted the critical need for resilient and seamless connectivity. Silicon Republic reported that these incidents underscored concerns about potential monopolies and the importance of robust internet infrastructure.

Rob Enns, VP/GM of Cloud Networking at Google Cloud, emphasized that this solution delivers on Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Network vision for an open and unified multicloud experience. The service is built for high resiliency, utilizing quad-redundant facilities and MACsec encryption for secure data transfer between providers.

• Historical Context of Cloud Rivalry and Interoperability Challenges: For years, AWS and Google Cloud have been fierce competitors, with enterprises often facing significant technical and financial hurdles when attempting to integrate services across different cloud platforms. Historically, connecting these disparate environments required complex manual setups involving physical circuits and extensive coordination, often taking weeks or months to complete, as detailed by PYMNTS.com.

• Addressing Vendor Lock-in and Costly Disruptions: A primary driver for this collaboration is the pervasive issue of vendor lock-in, where businesses become heavily reliant on a single provider's proprietary tools and services, making migration difficult and expensive, according to remutate Inc. This new service directly tackles this by offering a standardized, automated pathway, reducing the risk of being tied to one ecosystem and mitigating the high costs associated with cloud outages.

• Technical Details and Implementation: The joint solution leverages AWS Interconnect - multicloud and Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Interconnect, creating a managed, on-demand network pathway. This abstraction layer moves connectivity provisioning into cloud consoles, replacing physical infrastructure management with simple clicks and APIs, as explained by The New Stack. The service also features quad-redundant facilities and MACsec encryption for enhanced reliability and security.

• Impact on Enterprise Customers and AI Workloads: Enterprises increasingly adopt multicloud strategies for flexibility, cost optimization, and performance, especially with the surge in AI workloads. This partnership enables companies like Salesforce to build critical bridges between AWS and Google Cloud with ease, accelerating their ability to ground AI and analytics in trusted data, regardless of its location, according to Salesforce's SVP Software Engineering, Jim Ostrognai.

• Open Specification and Future Expansion: A key aspect of this collaboration is the introduction of an open specification for network interoperability, built on OpenAPI 3.0, which both companies hope other cloud providers will adopt. AWS has also announced plans to extend this multicloud networking product to include Microsoft Azure in 2026, further expanding the vision for a more open and interconnected cloud ecosystem.

• Expert Opinions and Market Implications: Nicolas Sekkaki, global cloud practice leader at Kyndryl, noted that the collaboration indicates hyperscalers' heightened awareness of enterprises shifting to hybrid cloud environments to support AI adoption, requiring seamless data access. Forrester Principal Analyst Lee Sustar views this as AWS leveraging its market share to establish its approach as a de facto standard, potentially strengthening its position against Microsoft Azure in the AI-native cloud race.

• Simplified Management and Operational Efficiency: Previously, customers had to manually set up complex networking components, a process that could take weeks or months. The new solution reimagines multicloud connectivity by moving away from physical infrastructure management towards a managed, cloud-native experience, allowing customers to provision dedicated bandwidth on demand and establish connectivity in minutes through their preferred cloud console or API.