Google Cloud is acquiring a research startup founded by some of the top names in DevOps

Greg Sandoval/Business Insider

Diane Greene, outgoing CEO of Google Cloud, who will leave her post in January.

• A startup called DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) announced Thursday that it has been acquired by Google Cloud.
• DevOps, a term that combines development and operations, is a concept that has spread quickly within companies and startups as a way to build more software, faster.
• DORA was founded by some of the top names in DevOps - experts who helped develop some of the concepts involved.

Google is investing further in "DevOps," a very Silicon Valley term for a software engineering philosophy that combines development and operations to help engineers build software faster. It's something of a buzzword, but there's serious money in it.

To that end, research startup DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) announced Thursday that it will join Google Cloud after being acquired for an undisclosed sum. The announcement shows that the search giant is investing in DORA's brand of data-driven research into DevOps and how it can make developer lives easier.

Notably, DORA was founded by some of the biggest names in the DevOps field.

DORA's co-founders, CEO Nicole Forsgren and CTO Jez Humble, have both written extensively on DevOps and originated several key concepts in the field. Also on board is Gene Kim, author of "The Phoenix Project," a novel that doubles as a popular handbook for how companies can adopt DevOps. DORA has led DevOps studies and created an assessment tool for businesses to evaluate their technology processes.

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"The best, most innovative organizations develop and deliver their software faster, more reliably, more securely, and with higher quality, standing as high performers in technology," Forsgren said in a statement.

"We are excited to join a team committed to delivering research-backed DevOps practices, and we look forward to continuing our work to understand key capabilities, measure value-driven outcomes, and optimize processes to help teams deliver their software as they move to the cloud."

DevOps startups, processes, and jobs have become blazingly popular, showing that developers are gaining more influence. Investors have been putting their money into developer-focused startups and startups that help teams release code faster. LinkedIn even reported that DevOps engineer is now the most in-demand job title among employers.

For Google Cloud, adding this DevOps expertise has the potential to help the company build out its sales pitch to developers. Forsgren, Humble, and Kim all have extensive experience working with developers, particularly in the business space. That could give Google an edge over leading cloud rivals Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.